2 years jail, heavy fines for breaking new Saudi law

The Saudi Ministry of Interior said that a long-sought anti-harassment law, approved by the Council of Ministers this week, will go into effect "within days", following its publication in the state's Official Gazette.
Revealing details about the new anti-harassment law at a press conference late on Thursday, Ministry of Interior officials also said the system will penalise those who submit unfounded complaints made for malicious reasons in harassment cases. 
"The implementation of the system will begin as soon as it is published in the Official Gazette, which as I said, will be within days," Major General Mansour Al Turki, the official spokesman of the Ministry of Interior, told the news conference.
The Council of Ministers passed the anti-harassment law on Tuesday and noted that a royal decree had been prepared. The Cabinet passed the law only a day after the 150-seat Shura Council, the Kingdom's legislative advisory body, approved the draft bill. The legislation was prepared by the Ministry of Interior on the orders of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz, who heads the Council of Ministers.

King Salman had ordered the Ministry of Interior to prepare the anti-harassment bill in light of the negative impact of harassment on the individual, family and society, the Shura Council had said in a statement. Harassment also violates Islamic values. In order to combat the social phenomenon of harassment, it was deemed necessary to enact a law that criminalises such behavior and spells out its legal consequences.
The new law consists of eight articles aimed at combating harassment, preventing its occurrence, meting out punishment to the perpetrators and protecting the victims in order to preserve the individual's privacy, dignity and freedom.
Major General Al Turki said the law focuses on combating harassment in public places, schools, care homes and shelters, private homes and on social media. It also singles out harassment involving those under the age of 18. He stressed that the public and private sectors have been obliged to develop measures to combat harassment and said that there will be public campaigns conducted, including in schools, to raise awareness about various forms of harassment.
Major General Al Turki, Director-General of the Ministry's General Directorate of Information Affairs, emphasised "the importance of the public and private sectors dealing seriously with the complaints submitted to them, and the imposition of internal disciplinary penalties."
He also pointed out that the anti-harassment system complements the child protection system.
"Some fear their children participating in public activities [because of potential harassment] and this law will protect them."
The draft legislation was passed by the Shura Council less than a month before the Kingdom lifts the ban on women driving. King Salman made the historic decision in September 2017 to allow women to drive from June 24. The decision is in line with the Vision 2030 blueprint for the future, spearheaded by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.  
"The law comes within the framework of achieving Vision 2030, to enable all members of society to participate unfettered in the development of the Kingdom," Major General Al Turki said, adding that for each reported incident, security services are required to collect information to prove the validity of allegations before starting the investigation.
Major General Al Turki said that all cases of alleged harassment will be investigated thoroughly by the Prosecutor General.
"Any statement, action, or statement that has a sexual connotation will constitute a crime of harassment according to the law," he said. "However, there are procedures to be followed by the security authorities that will eventually determine if sexual harassment intent is present or not. This will be followed by an investigation by the Public Prosecution."

• Saudi Arabia