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29 March 2024

'Magician' bites cop during arrest in Saudi

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By Staff

A Sudanese man accused of practicing magic in violation of the law in Saudi Arabia bit one of the Gulf Kingdom’s feared religious police but failed to escape arrest.

Members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice raided the man’s apartment in the western Saudi town of Makkah after receiving a report he was practicing witchcraft, newspapers said.

A police woman posing as a wife deserted by her husband for another woman phoned the 46-year-old Sudanese and told him she wanted her husband back.

“He asked the woman to come to his flat and pay SR3,000 to cast a magic spell on her husband so he will love her again,” the Arabic language daily Sabq said.

“When Commission members raided the flat, he assaulted one of them and bit him in an attempt to flee, but he was caught and jailed pending trial.”

Conservative Saudi Arabia enforces tough laws against sorcery and many persons convicted of involvement in such activities have been beheaded.