Saudi spine punishment

A SAUDI judge has asked several hospitals to investigate whether they could damage a man’s spinal cord as punishment after he was convicted of attacking another man with a cleaver and paralysing him.

The Saudi Okaz newspaper reported that a leading hospital in Riyadh told the judge that it could not do the operation.

Two of the hospitals involved, and the court in north-western Tabuk province, were closed for the Saudi weekend and could not be reached for comment.