(MENAFN- Arab News) JEDDAH: Saudi courts Kingdom-wide have witnessed rising rates in blackmailing lawsuits with Jeddah courts registering the highest number at 67 cases local media said quoting latest data released by the Ministry of Justice.
The courts also received some 88 naming-and-shaming cases of which Riyadh captured 71 cases or 80.6 percent of the totals according to the ministry report.
The courts received other similar lawsuits including 84 threatening others cases and 494 abusing others where Riyadh registered the highest number in both areas at 68 and 383 cases respectively the report said.
In a related development the Appeals Court in Makkah has upheld a ruling issued by a Jeddah penal court against a Saudi citizen in his fifties who had blackmailed a girl in her twenties. The Saudi was given six years in jail 500 lashes and fined SR20000 while his son who gave coverage to his father's ill-practices was to be jailed for two months and 10 lashes the report said.
The father reportedly developed an illegal relation with the girl and meanwhile forced his son to go with him to divert attention from them. The father further admitted that he went out with the girl several times filmed her in shameless conditions forced her to bring money and threatened her if she declined to talk with or go out with him the media said.
However the girl informed members of the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (Haia) who prepared a trap and caught the two culprits while they were trying to bring the girl into their car. All audio recordings and photos related to the girl were also seized the media said.