Flogging ended as punishment in Saudi Arabia

RIYADH: Flogging as a form of punishment is to be ended in Saudi Arabia, the General Commission for the Supreme Court has decided, foreign media reported on Saturday.

According to a document from the Kingdom’s top court, seen by a British wire service, it made the decision sometime this month, and said the punishment will be replaced by prison sentences or fines, or a mixture of both.

The document said the decision was “an extension of the human rights reforms introduced under the direction of King Salman and the direct supervision of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.”

Awwad Alwwad, president of the Kingdom’s Human Rights Commission, told Reuters: “This reform is a momentous step forward in Saudi Arabia’s human rights agenda, and merely one of the many recent reforms in the Kingdom.”