A Saudi man accused of organising a mixed-gender concert will spend two years in prison and be lashed 500 times at a girls’ college in front of its students.
The man was arrested by police at a rest house in the western Saudi town of Taif last week along with other men and college girls during a dancing party that violated the Gulf Kingdom’s strict rules against mixed-gender public gatherings.
A court in Taif sentenced the organiser of the party to two years in prison and ordered him lashed 500 times in batches in front of students at Taif girls college.
Other men who took part in the party were also sentenced to jail terms and ordered lashed 99 times at the same college.
Sabq newspaper, which carried the report, did not make clear if the girls who attended the part were also tried.