Saudi Arabia: widow, 75, sentenced to 40 lashes

A 75-year-old widow in Saudi Arabia has been sentenced to 40 lashes and four months in prison for associating with two young men who are not close relatives, her lawyer said March 9. The newspaper al-Watan said the woman, Khamisa Sawadi, met with two men, both aged 24, in April after she asked them to bring some loaves of bread to her home. The two men, her nephew and his business partner, were arrested by the religious police after delivering the bread, the newspaper said. They were also sentenced to lashes and imprisonment. The verdict against Sawadi, a Syrian who was married to a Saudi, also orders her deportation after her sentence is served. Her lawyer said he would appeal. (AP, March 10)

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