In an unusual act of generosity, an 81-year-old man has claimed that he took the fall for the crime of alcohol possession because he wanted to save the real culprit his job and future prospects. Now the old man is serving a sentence of four months in prison and 30 lashes, instead of his 30-year-old neighbor. The verdict was handed down by an Al-Ahsa court recently. Speaking from behind bars, the old man said that he was driving back with his young neighbor from a short trip to a neighboring country when customs officials found bottles of alcohol hidden in the car. When questioned, the man said that he was responsible for bringing the bottles, which raised the suspicion of investigators. But the old man stuck to his story despite persistent questioning. “The bottles were not mine. I just wanted to save my young neighbor and keep him in his new job that he had a tough time to find,” the man said from his jail cell. If convicted, the young man would have been fired from his job and barred from employment for a period of time, according to the law. “The incident will not affect my life at all. I have had a straight and good history among all my relatives and friends,” he added, hoping that his neighbor would quit his “bad” habit.
