British foreign secretary Philip Hammond has insisted he does not expect a British grandfather to be lashed nor a protester to be executed in Saudi Arabia.

Several hundred people have protested in Shiite eastern Saudi Arabia but hundreds of police prevented protests in the capital calling for democratic reforms.

Hundreds of police have deployed in the Saudi capital ahead of planned protests calling for democratic reforms.

THE SAUDI Justice Ministry has announced that a girl gang-raped by seven men and then sentenced to six months in prison and 200 lashes for adultery had confessed to cheating on her husband.

The widespread prohibition in the Islamic world aganst depicting the Prophet Mohammed springs from a worry that even well-intentioned images could lead to idolatry or show disrespect for a figure Islam considers the model of human perfection.