A member of the Saudi religious police who was found to have six wives (two more than the legal maximum) has beensentenced to 120 lashes – which, as Arab News notes, works out at 20 lashes per wife.

Considering that the man was employed by the mutawa to enforce Islamic law (as interpreted by the ultra-strict Wahhabi sect), his defence in court was an odd one:

"The accused had claimed he did not know it was against Islamic law to have more than four wives at the same time. He told the judge that he had no education beyond elementary school."

The judge decided to spare him from stoning to death, saying there was insufficient evidence that having the excess wives amounted to adultery – which in Saudi Arabia carries the death penalty.

Three of his wives were Saudis and three were Yemenis, but two of the Yemeni wives were found to be living illegally in the kingdom. The 56-year-old man, who has not been named, faces a separate prosecution "for marrying foreign women without official consent".

In addition to the flogging, he has been ordered to memorise two suras of the Qur'an, he has been forbidden to deliver sermons or lead prayers in mosques, and has been banned from travelling abroad for five years.

Posted by Brian Whitaker, 18 February 2010. 

UPDATE at 1800 GMT: A spokesman for the religious policeclarified: "The accused was neither a field employee nor an administrator ... but rather a building security man."