Doctor spared 1 200 lashes

2009-12-25 21:15

Cairo - Two Egyptian doctors sentenced to prison and lashes in Saudi Arabia for illegally selling pharmaceuticals have returned home after being pardoned by the Saudi king, the state news agency reported on Friday.

The two arrived in Cairo late on Thursday, the MENA news agency said.

Their case, which came to light a year ago, had caused an uproar in Egypt.

Egyptian media and human rights groups criticised Riyadh over the case and demanded President Hosni Mubarak, who has close ties with the Saudi royal family, intervene to free the doctors.

One of the physicians, Raouf Amin el-Arabi, was accused of driving a Saudi princess "to addiction" and was initially sentenced in November 2008 to seven years in prison and 700 lashes.

Following his appeal, the Saudi judge upheld the conviction and more than doubled the penalty - to 15 years in prison and 1 500 lashes.

The second doctor, Shawki Ibrahim, was sentenced to 20 years in prison and an unspecified number of lashes for selling drugs and having "illicit affairs" with his female patients.

At the height of the uproar, the Egyptian government briefly banned Egyptian physicians from working in the kingdom. It also said it favoured quiet diplomacy to resolve the matter.

The work ban was lifted after a month and following what Egypt described as assurances from the Saudi government that Egyptian doctors would get contracts guaranteeing treatment equal to that of their Saudi counterparts.

Mubarak met with King Abdullah during an unannounced tour of the Gulf earlier this week.

Saudi Arabia is home to 5.6 million foreign workers employed in sectors such as oil, business, health and engineering.

- SAPA