Saudi Arabia to flog 75-year-old for breaching sex segregation rules

Amnesty International has called on Saudi Arabia to cancel a sentence of 40 lashes handed down against a 75-year-old woman for breaching the kingdom's sex segregation rules.
15 Dec 2009

"The minister of interior (Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz) is reported to have ordered the immediate detention and flogging of a 75-year-old woman, Khamisa Mohammed Sawadi, along with two Saudi Arabian men known only as Fahad and Hadyan," the London-based watchdog said.

"The Saudi Arabian authorities must not carry out the imminent flogging and imprisonment of an elderly woman and two younger men."

Amnesty said all avenues of appeal had now been exhausted in Saudi courts against the trio's March conviction for being in the company of members of the opposite sex who are not close relatives. the rest