Saudi princess gets suspended jail in France for beating plumber

AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): Hassa bint Salman, a Saudi princess, was on Thursday handed a 10-month suspended sentence by a French court for ordering a bodyguard to beat a workman at her luxury residence in Paris in 2016.

The 42-year-old, a sister of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), the de facto ruler of the oil-rich Persian Gulf state, had been charged with instructing her bodyguard to beat, hold captive and humiliate the plumber.

Bint Salman, a daughter of King Salman, was tried in absentia following an arrest warrant issued in December 2017. She did not show up for the trial since it kicked off in July this year.

She was also ordered by the Paris court to pay a fine of 10,000 euros ($11,000).

The punishment was heavier than that demanded by the prosecutors, who had sought a six-month suspended sentence and a fine of 5,000 euros ($5,480).

The princess was accused of instructing her bodyguard Rani Saidi to beat up Ashraf Eid after he was seen taking pictures inside her home in September 2016.

She had been charged with complicity in an act of intentional violence, complicity in illegal confinement and complicity in theft.

The bodyguard, who was the only protagonist in the case present in court, was handed an eight-month suspended sentence and a 5,000-euro fine, in line with the recommendations of prosecutors.

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