Man sentenced to 500 lashes

AN AUSTRALIAN man has been sentenced to 500 lashes and a year in a Saudi Arabian jail after being convicted of blasphemy.

The 45-year-old man, identified by family members as Mansor Almaribe of southern Victoria state, was detained in the holy city of Medina last month while making the Muslim pilgrimage of Hajj.

Family members told Australian media that Saudi officials accused him of insulting the companions of the Prophet Mohammed, a violation of Saudi Arabia’s strict blasphemy laws.