Appeals court refuses to ratify khulwa verdict

Appeals court refuses to ratify khulwa verdict Laura Bashraheel | Arab News

JEDDAH: The Court of Cassation has refused to ratify a sentence handed to a 75-year-old widow who was accused of khulwa (illegal seclusion) with two young men, who were reportedly bringing her bread. Khamisa Sawadi and the two men, including her late husband's 25-year-old nephew, were sentenced to 40 lashes and four months in prison by a court in Al-Shamli town in Hail province. Sawadi, a Syrian national who was married to a Saudi, was convicted and sentenced in March. She previously told the court that she considered her late husband's nephew, Fahd Al-Anzi, her son because she breast-fed him when he was a baby. But the court rejected her claim, saying she had no evidence. In Islamic law, breast-feeding establishes a degree of maternal relation. Sawadi met the men last June after she asked Al-Anzi to bring her five loaves of bread. Al-Anzi and his friend and business partner, Hadiyan bin Zein, were arrested by members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice when they came out of Sawadi's home after delivering her bread. Sawadi's lawyer, Abdul Rahman Al-Lahem, said the verdict was against the principles of Shariah. "Islam has given women different and simpler rules to follow when they become old," he said, citing the example of covering the face. "The judge was supposed to deal with this woman on that basis," the lawyer added. The Court of Cassation has returned the case to Al-Shamli court with several observations on the previous verdict, including the rejection of her breastfeeding claim and the fact that she is old. The court said it based its March 3 ruling on information from citizens and the testimony of Al-Anzi's father, who accused Sawadi of corruption. "The villagers confirmed that he is her breast-fed son," Al-Lahem said, adding that khulwa takes place in a closed place where there are no other witnesses. "Sawadi's house is only a tent. Everyone could see her," the lawyer said. Sawadi now lives in Riyadh with her daughter and refuses to speak to the press.