Raouf Amin el-Araby, a 52-year-old Egyptian doctor who has been serving the Saudi Royal family for 20 years, was convicted of malpractice, reportedly after treating a Saudi princess with painkillers.

Egyptian newspapers reported that he was accused of driving a Saudi princess "to addiction."

Initially he was sentenced to 7 years and 700 lashes but after he appealed he was sentenced to 15 years and 1500 lashes, 70 lashes once a week. A human rights lawyer said that he was given the first 70 lashes last week and he will get 70 more this week.

Family members, friends and colleagues gathered in outrage and in grief outside the headquarters of Egypt's doctors union and requested King Abdullah to pardon Raouf. "1,500 lashes is unprecedented in the history of Islam," read one banner carried by protesters. "Who is responsible for the humiliation of our doctors abroad?" read another.

The Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR) and the foreign minister are working hard to find a way to return Raouf home quickly. Hafez Abu Saeda, the director of EOHR, stated that the princess was prescribed the same medication as the woman was receiving in the United States, "so it is obvious that the doctor was not at fault for her addiction."

Abu Saeda was astonished that the judge doubled the sentence and the lashes after the appeal. It is tantamount, he said, to penalizing Amin for asserting his right of appeal.

"When you appeal against a sentencing it is the rule that it cannot go higher, but in Saudi Arabia it appears anything is possible," said Saeda.

Protests in Egypt have driven the Egyptian foreign ministry to seek a solution, partly out of concern that negative repercussions may damage relations between Cairo and Riyadh.

source : wikinews