Saudi Arabia: Appeal and Your Sentence is Doubled up!!  · Global Voices
Nermeen Edrees

Saudi Arabia has sentenced Egyptian doctor Raouf Amin to seven years in prison and 1,500 lashes. What for? For allegedly administering addictive drugs to a Saudi Princess during a medical treatment in the course of his duties at a Saudi hospital. Dr. Raouf has reportedly denied the charges that he was responsible for the “princess” getting addicted to sedatives.
Dr. Amin's wife tells us the story in the Doctors without Rights blog:
In his first trial Dr. Raouf Amin was sentenced to three years in prison and 700 lashes..however after his appeal, the sentence was doubled up; he will be whipped at the rate of 10-15 lashes a week during a 15-year jail sentence. The verdict was condemned not only by the human rights associations and civil entities, but also the ministry of interiors and the Egyptian Doctors Syndicate; Head of Doctors Syndicate Dr. Hamdy El Sayed stated to the AFP:
“We condemn this verdict in the strongest terms and we are making contact with officials in Cairo and Saudi Arabia, as well as [Egyptian President Hosni] Mubarak for them to intervene,” El-Sayyed told AFP.
“He did not have a fair trial; there was not even any adequate medical expert opinion. … This judgment is more about torture than justice and does not correspond with any kind of law, human rights or even Sharia (Islamic law)”
It would have been better to have sentenced him to death than to torture him this way. One thousand five hundred lashings and 15 years in prison is too harsh even for a murderer.”
Needless to mention that the Egyptian public opinion cannot comprehend it. Caricature artist Ashraf Hamdy angrily wonders: