year-old Saudi man was sentenced to five years in prison, 500 lashes of the whip, and a SR50,000 fine after appearing in a recent amateur gay video online allegedly taken inside a Jeddah prison. Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Shathri, judge of the District Court in Jeddah, handed down the verdict for crimes including homosexuality, imitating women, and possessing pornographic video clips. The penalty comes after the spread of the video clip on the Internet allegedly sent via Bluetooth from inside the Briman prison, showing the man imitating a woman and turning into an explicit talk about sex. The Prison Administration has, however, denied that the short clip was filmed there. The man had earlier impersonated a security officer and several verdicts were issued against him – the most prominent of which are homosexuality, imitating women, and possessing pornographic clips that show the man wearing women's underwear and in compromising poses. A source said, “The District Court sentenced the accused in a homosexuality case that was referred to it by the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (the Hai'a) in Jeddah before he was tried for impersonating a security man and behaving shamefully and with conduct violating the Islamic teachings.” The case started when the Hai'a's staff arrested the man under charges of practicing homosexuality. He was referred to the Bureau for Investigation and Prosecution, which referred him to the District Court.
