Shams
Although the mainstream media routinely characterizes rulings like this as a manifestation of Saudi Arabia adherence to a “strict form of Sharia,” in fact it is in strict accord with the Qur’an: “And those who accuse chaste women and then do not produce four witnesses – lash them with eighty lashes and do not accept from them testimony ever after.” (24:4)
“Saudi Twitter user is jailed for three months and sentenced to 80 lashes for falsely accusing a Kuwaiti pop star of adultery,” by Tara Brady in the Daily Mail, January 2:
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.
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.
The ruling is based on Islamic sharia law which stipulates flogging for those who accuse others of having extra-marital sex without giving proof.
The man was also jailed for three months and fined 10,000 riyals ($2,700), the news website said.
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.
As well as accusing Shams of adultery, he posted fabricated photos depicting her in ‘obscene’ situations, Sabq said, without elaborating….