Saudi Arabia religious authorities have arrested a man alongside his co-worker for appearing in a video where the man was fed a piece of bread by his co-worker a woman.
Saudi Authorities say the video is offensive and arrested the man who is of Egyptian Nationality after the video went viral on social media.
In the 30-second video that sparked outrage throughout Saudi Arabia, the couple were seen laughing and joking at a hotel desk in the city of Jeddah before the woman appeared to feed the man some bread.
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The Egyptian national was arrested on Sunday evening and charged by Saudi authorities with failing to adhere to government regulations that stipulate Saudi Arabia’s policy of gender-segregation in the workplace.
According to initial local media reports within Saudi Arabia;
“The labour ministry arrested an expatriate in Jeddah after he appeared in an offensive video.”
A state owned TV network reported much later that the Egyptian national would be charged with sexual harassment in the workplace which could attract a five year prison sentence.
Saudi Arabia is the most religiously structured society in the world with an ingrained culture of gender segregation in public spaces in accordance with the sharia.
Saudi Arabia therefore enforces strict segregation between the sexes in public areas, places of work and restaurants as well as places of worship. Unmarried Men and women who are not relatives are not permitted to sit in close proximity in public spaces.
Although the video had initially sparked a wave of criticism among conservatives within Saudi Arabia; thousands of social media users took to the twitter to defend the Egyptian National much later; the issue became a trending topic on Arabic Twitter.
According to a tweet by Saudi Twitter user Yahya which reeked of sarcasm
“Why are you judging them harshly, they’re just “co-workers”
Another twitter user Ghanem alMasarir said;
“He [The Egyptian man] was punished, while the Al Saud princes who embrace women and spend money looted from the people go unpunished.”