Abha, Saudi Arabia – Judge: It’s OK for Husband to Slap Wives

Abha, Saudi Arabia – A Jeddah court judge’s approval of husbands slapping their wives on the face if they spend money lavishly on unnecessary things triggered a hue and cry during a seminar on domestic violence here recently.

Judge Hamad Al-Razine said that “if a person gives $320 to his wife and she spends $240 to purchase an abaya (a black gown) from a brand shop and if her husband slaps her on the face as a reaction to her action, she deserves that punishment.”

The judge made this comment in the presence of Princess Adila bint Abdullah, deputy chairperson of the National Family Safety Program, who attended the seminar on the role of judicial and security institutions in preventing domestic violence.

Al-Razine was explaining the causes of an increase in domestic violence in the country, adding that women were also equally responsible. “But nobody puts even a fraction of blame on them,” he said before making the controversial comment.

Al-Razine’s comment evoked an immediate reaction from the women in the audience who loudly protested. They were all the more surprised when they learned that the man who made the comment was a judge.