Husband who beat TV wife gets 600 lashes

The husband of a popular Saudi television presenter was convicted and sentenced to six months in prison and 600 lashes in the brutal battering of his wife, who had used her plight to campaign against wife beating,

Mohammed Bakr al-Fallatta, an unemployed singer, was convicted of abuse and sentenced by a court in the Red Sea port of Jiddah.

He had surrendered on April 21 after being sought for beating his wife Rania al-Baz unconscious. Al-Baz, who works for state-run Saudi Channel One, was in hospital with 13 facial fractures, requiring 12 operations, after the assault.

“There is no prejudice in my heart … I am anguished by the sentence against my children’s father,” Al-Baz said.

She and al-Fallatta have three children, one of whom, she had said, witnessed the beating.

Al-Baz’s case drew wide attention after she allowed photographers to take photos of her bruised and bloody face.