A Saudi court has sentenced a man convicted of defaming a Kuwaiti singer by accusing her on Twitter of adultery to three months in jail and 80 lashes, a news website reported Thursday.<\/p>\n
The Saudi national, apparently a fan of a rival pop star, was sentenced for “accusing (Kuwaiti singer) Shams of adultery without providing proof,” the Saudi Sabq news website cited the verdict as saying.<\/p>\n
The ruling is based on Islamic sharia law which stipulates flogging for those who accuse others of having extra-marital sex without giving proof.<\/p>\n
The man was also jailed for three months and fined 10,000 riyals ($2,700), the news website said.<\/p>\n
Shams had filed a libel case against the man who owned a Twitter account titled in Arabic “the lawyer of Queen Ahlam,” another Gulf pop star.<\/p>\n
As well as accusing Shams of adultery, he posted fabricated photos depicting her in “obscene” situations, Sabq said, without elaborating.<\/p>\n
The microblogging website is hugely popular in Saudi Arabia, which is also one of the 10-most censored countries for media, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists.<\/p>\n
Some 41 percent of internet users in the oil-rich kingdom use Twitter, a study published by the US-based Business Insider website found.<\/p>\n
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