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Partying foreigners feel wrath of Saudi justice

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - A Saudi Arabian court has sentenced 20 foreigners to receive lashes and spend several months in prison for attending a party where alcohol was served, and men and women danced.

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - A Saudi Arabian court has sentenced 20 foreigners to receive lashes and spend several months in prison for attending a party where alcohol was served, and men and women danced.

The kingdom's religious police arrested 433 foreigners, including more than 240 women, for attending an "impudent" party in Jiddah, the state-guided newspaper Okaz reported. It did not identify the foreigners, give their nationalities or say when the party took place.

Judge Saud al-Boushi sentenced the 20 to three to four months in prison and ordered them to receive an unspecified number of lashes. They have the right to appeal.

The newspaper said because of the large number of detainees, several judges were assigned to try the foreigners in groups. The rest of the detainees are awaiting trial.

Saudi Arabia follows a strict interpretation of Islam under which it bans alcohol and meetings between unmarried men and women. People convicted of murder, drug trafficking, rape and armed robbery may be executed with a sword in public. - Sapa-AP

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