Saudi’s ‘Tattoo King’ handed jail and 200 lashes

By Rizwan Khatik - Fri Jul 20, 6:59 am

A man nicknamed the ‘Tattoo King’ has been sentenced to a year in jail and 200 lashes in Saudi Arabia, it was reported, after being convicted of tattooing females in the conservative Gulf kingdom.

Investigations revealed that the man had been applying his inky designs to women’s bodies for nine years, according to Al Madina newspaper. Strict gender segregation is enforced between non-married, non-related males and females in Saudi Arabia.

The unnamed Lebanese man initially received female customers at his rented apartment in Jeddah, before paying women home visits in bid to avoid attention from the country’s religious police.

Members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice apprehended him in an undercover operation, just as he was entering a potential customer’s home.

He was found to be carrying a bag with creams for weight loss, breast firming and skin whitening, among other products, as well as pictures of tattooed women on his phone, the paper added.