According to a statement on Tuesday by the ministry of culture, the punishment would apply to both men and women in the ultra-conservative Muslim kingdom.
As in many other parts of the Muslim world, Saudi laws on divorce, inspired by scripture, often required wives seeking alimony to provide evidence of abuse or sexual promiscuity and husband’s phone could be a rich source of such evidence. However, this new law could protect husbands from their wives.
The Anti-Cybercrime Law, says: “spying on, interception or reception of data transmitted through an information network or a computer without legitimate authorisation” is a crime with a penalty up to 500,000 riyals ($133,000.00), prison or both.
“Social media has resulted in a steady increase in cybercrimes such as blackmail, embezzlement, and defamation, not to mention hacking of accounts’’, the ministry says.
The oil-rich and tech-obsessed countries are among the most avid social media users in the world, but traditional values remained ascendant, even in courts.
