Manama: In a landmark ruling, a court in the Red Sea city of Jeddah had rejected a call to prosecute two media figures for promoting a competition to choose the most beautiful dog in the city.
The defendants faced charges of breaking the Anti-Cyber Crime Law by using their online accounts last year to call for the dog beauty contest.
The competition included stages leading to a shortlist of 10 contestants and eventually three winners.
The finale was scheduled to coincide with Eid Al Fitr, the feast that marks the end of Ramadan, in July.
However, authorities in Jeddah stepped in and informed the public through social media that no dog beauty contest was planned for the Eid celebrations, and no one had formally applied to hold the event in the city.
The public prosecutor called for a shutdown of the promoters’s social media accounts and recommended putting them on trial.
However, the court on Sunday ruled there was no case against them, Saudi daily Okaz reported.
“The decision by the court is qualitative in the criminal justice system in Saudi Arabia,” legal consultant Omar Al Khawli was quoted as saying by the daily.
“It is based on strong and convincing reasons and is cohesively structured. It reflects the important shift in the history of the Saudi criminal justice. This is probably the first fruit of moving judicial elements from the Board of Grievances to the courts of public justice to enrich them with such verdicts.”
