Using Heart Emojis Amounts to Sexual Harassment In Saudi Arabia

Rabat - Sending heart emojis in conversations through social media can potentially amount to sexual harassment under the law in Saudi Arabia with a penalty of up to five years in prison and 300,000 Saudi Rial ($79,949), warned, Almotaz Koutobi, a Saudi cybercrimes expert.

Rabat – Sending heart emojis in conversations through social media can potentially amount to sexual harassment under the law in Saudi Arabia with a penalty of up to five years in prison and 300,000 Saudi Rial ($79,949), warned, Almotaz Koutobi, a Saudi cybercrimes expert.

Non-consensual, sexually explicit language, and red heart emojis sent through private chat are all admissible evidence under Saudi law in sexual harassment lawsuits, the expert explained to local newspaper Okaz.

The law equally extends to intrusive conversations that breach social media users’ privacy, the expert pointed out.

Under Saudi cybercrimes-related law, sexual harassment comprises verbal and non-verbal acts with sexual nuances that affect a person’s body or “chastity” in any form, including through the use of technology, Koutobi explained.

The law also extends to using other emojis with sexual denotations or using expressions with an underlying reference to the receiver’s body meant to induce the receiver into non-consensual conversations, he added.

The aforementioned law is set in motion once the authorities receive a complaint following proper procedures. When found guilty, the perpetrator can face up to two years of prison and a fine of up to 100,000 Saudi Rial ($26,649).

In case the victim dropped the lawsuit, the perpetrator would still face the public prosecutor, with prison time up to five years and 300,000 Saudi Rial in case the perpetrator has a harassment criminal record, or in case the act targets a minor or physically challenged individual.

The jail sentence and fine can potentially reach the maximum threshold in case the perpetrator had direct or indirect legal custody over the victim, or in case the sexual harassment act occurred in the workplace, academic institutions, care homes, or in case the victim is of the same sex as the perpetrator, Okaz’s report pointed out.

The verdict can equally reach the maximum threshold in case the victim was unconscious, or in case the crime coincided with a national crisis, accident, or natural catastrophes, the report concluded.