Five Saudi men have been sentenced to 32 years in prison and 4,500 lashes by a criminal court in Saudi Arabia - for holding a Valentine's Day party.
The law breaking men were caught at a rented rest house in the Al-Farouq area of Buraidah Qassim province and accused of holding a party with women who were unrelated to them, drinking and dancing.
Police from the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (CPVPV) rounded up the men with the help of security patrols for their offences along with six women on February 14.
The men have all admitted to the charges, which include illicit seclusion with unrelated women, dancing and drinking.
A judge will decide the fate of the six women. The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice is the Saudi Arabian government's agency's religious police or mutaween (meaning pious) to enforce Sharia Law within the Islamic nation.
Altogether, it has 3,500 to 4,000 police officers who enforce a strict religious code among citizens.
Members patrol the streets checking dress code, strict separation of men and women, salat prayer by Muslims during prayer times, and other behavior it believes to be commanded by Islam.
The mutaween (CPVPV) are known for having full beards and wearing their headscarves (ghutrah or shemagh) loose without an agal and often come from Saudi Arabia's lower classes.
The body has widespread powers to detain and berate offenders and shut down businesses and are employed directly by the King. The organization's 2013 budget was the equivalent of US$390million.
In a separate case, Raif Badawi, a Saudi blogger recently fell foul of the authorities and faces ten years in jail, a thousand lashes and a million riyal fine for 'insulting Islam'.
Mr Badawi' was arrested in June 2012 and charged with cyber crime and disobeying his father - a crime in Saudi Arabia - in relation to his Saudi Liberal Network website..
The site included articles that were critical of senior religious figures such as Saudi Arabia's Grand Mufti, according to Human Rights Watch.
He had originally faced seven years in jail and 600 lashes, but ancourt overturned that sentence and ordered a retrial.
Amnesty International called the new sentence 'outrageous' and said Badawi is a 'prisoner of conscience'. His website has been closed since his first trial.
Philip Luther, director of the Middle East and North Africa programme at Amnesty International, urged Saudi authorities to quash blogger Badawi's conviction.
'The decision to sentence Raif Badawi to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes is outrageous,' he said.
Human Rights Watch said Saudi Arabia, a staunch ally of the West in the Middle East, has a long history of suppressing free expression.
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