A Lebanese man nicknamed the “tattoo king” has been sentenced to one year in prison and 200 lashes in the conservative Muslim kingdom, a Saudi newspaper reported.
“Investigations revealed the Lebanese had been practicing this job for nine years on a business visa,” said Al-Madina.
“At first, he used to receive women in a rented apartment (in the western city of Jeddah) but later he began going to women’s homes to draw tattoos on their bodies” to avoid being caught by Saudi religious police, said the daily.
He was finally nabbed by members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (A Hai’a-religious police) in an undercover operation.
“They seized with him a bag in which he carried creams for weight loss, breast firming and for skin whitening,” Al-Madina said. They also found on his mobile phone pictures of tattooed women.
The unnamed man claimed the products and tools were for use in his hairdressing shop in Lebanon, but investigators from the Investigation and Prosecution Bureau in Jeddah later found text messages from female customers on his mobile phone, as well as images of women with tattoos and business cards.
Prosecutors said they would appeal for a stronger punishment against the man, who is also accused of having met privately with women in the Gulf state where mixing of the sexes is prohibited, said Al-Madina.
He was caught when the Hai’a enlisted the help of an undercover policeman to pose as the driver of a potential client. The hairdresser was then arrested as he entered the supposed home of the new ‘customer’.
Tattoos are not in keeping with Islamic tradition but not officially banned in Saudi Arabia.