Saudi Gazette report JEDDAH — A circuit court in Jeddah handed down additional sentences to Egyptian lawyer Ahmed Al-Jizawi and an accomplice under directives from the Court of Appeals in Makkah. According to the new verdict, the two Egyptian men will each pay a fine of SR10,000 in addition to jail terms. They will be deported from the country after serving their time in prison. Al-Jizawi, a lawyer and human rights activist, was accused of smuggling drugs into the Kingdom when he arrived for Umrah in April 2012. He was found to be carrying 21,380 of the anti-anxiety pills Xanax, a controlled medicine containing alprazolam that is classified by Saudi authorities as a narcotic and is sold only under prescription. The pills were stashed inside baby powder containers and wooden boxes alongside copies of the Holy Qur'an. He was sentenced to five years imprisonment and 300 whip lashes, to be applied at the rate of 50 lashes a month. An Egyptian accomplice was sentenced to six years in prison and 400 lashes. Their third partner, a Saudi, was sentenced to two years imprisonment and 100 lashes. Wednesday's court session lasted for five minutes and was attended by the three defendants and Yasser Olwani, the legal consultant at the Egyptian consulate in Jeddah. According to Al-Madinah daily, the Court of Appeals instructed to the Jeddah court either to uphold its previous verdict or make it harsher. It also suggested that each of the two defendants be fined SR10,000 and the two Egyptians be deported after serving their jail term. While delivering the original verdict, the presiding judge had turned down the public prosecutor's demand to hand down the death penalty for Al-Jizawi.
