JEDDAH — A man sentenced to six months in prison and 75 lashes for slandering his former wife has appealed against the verdict. In addition to prison term and lashes, the court had asked the culprit to publish his apology in two newspapers for tarnishing the image of his ex-wife. "The man is currently free and has the right to file a new lawsuit as an appeal even though the Court of Appeals had already upheld the sentence passed by the lower court. He has the right to apply for an appeal if he has new evidence and documents to submit," said the source. The source added the court will look into the latest appeal. "The court clarified that the public apology the man has to publish should be written by him and must be approved by the ex-wife. The court does not impose any regulations on the length and size of the apology," said the source. The source also said the woman filed a lawsuit against her ex-husband stating that he would call the hotel where she worked in and yell profanities at her. He would also call her co-workers to spread false rumors about her in an attempt to defame her. "The woman had to quit her job after her reputation was smirched. The woman stated in her lawsuit that her ex-husband has been verbally harassing her since the day she divorced him. The ex-husband told the court that he and his ex-wife were in a custody battle over their son," said the source. The source also said the man was mad at the hotel for releasing the voice recordings of the phone calls between him and his ex-wife whenever he called the hotel. "The man is preparing to file a lawsuit against the hotel for infringement of privacy rights," said the source.
