Steward gets 10 years for molesting passenger

A Saudi court sentenced a national airlines steward for 10 years in jail and ordered him lashed 2000 times after he was convicted of trying to rape an Australian passenger in air, a newspaper reported on Wednesday.

The passenger of Lebanese origin told the criminal court in the central town of Buraydah that the defendant followed her into the aircraft toilet during the flight and molested her, Alsaudi Arabic language daily said.

“She said the steward pressed his hand on her mouth to prevent her from screaming and tried to rape her,” the paper said, adding the unnamed Saudi cabinet crew member was told by court he can appeal the sentence.

The steward was arrested in the western Red Sea port of Jeddah after the woman reported the incident to the police.

She said that she was with her husband aboard a Saudia airlines flight from the eastern port of Dammam to the central province of Qaseem when the incident took place nearly three months ago.

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