Saudi princess sentenced for assault
PARIS • The daughter of the King of Saudi Arabia was complicit in beating up and briefly kidnapping a workman in her luxury flat Paris, a French court ruled on Thursday, sentencing the princess to a 10-month suspended prison sentence.
Speaking after the verdict, Princess Hassa bint Salman’s French lawyer said most of the declarations made by workman Ashraf Eid were false and that an appeal would be lodged.
According to the initial indictment, Ashraf Eid told police that the princess’ bodyguard bound his hands, punched and kicked him and forced him to kiss the princess’ feet after she accused him of filming her on his cellphone.
Eid said he had been taking pictures of a room so he could return furniture to the same positions when he finished his work. “She called me a dog who didn’t deserve to live, and called her bodyguard,” he said.
He told investigators his phone was forcibly taken from him and that as he was being beaten, Princess Hassa berated him, telling him “you’ll see how you speak to a princess, how you speak to the royal family.”
Defence lawyer Emmanuel Moyne disputed the court’s conclusions.
“There was no theft and moreover there was no violence. All the investigators’ findings, the medical certificates demonstrate that the accusations made by Mr. Eid are fanciful,” Moyne told reporters.
The princess, 43, sister of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has consistently denied any wrongdoing through her lawyers.
She was sentenced in absentia. The court found her guilty of complicity in violence, sequestration and theft of the plumber’s telephone. She was also fined euros 10,000 ($14,600).
Rani Saida, the bodyguard, was given an eightmonth suspended sen - tence and fined euros 5,000 ($7,300).
Saudi royalty has faced legal problems in France before.
In 2013, a French court ordered that the French assets of Saudi Princess Maha al-Sudairi, wife of former interior minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz, be seized over unpaid bills at a luxury hotel totalling almost 6 million euros ($8.7 million).