JEDDAH: A woman has sued her husband for tapping the home phone. The Jeddah court, where the case was filed, has forwarded it to the reconciliation committee.
The wife, in her lawsuit, said her husband secretly installed a machine that recorded all incoming and outgoing calls through the fixed line telephone in the house. The wife said the court should declare the action of the husband criminal for listening to her phone calls to her parents and friends. She uses the fixed line in the home because of the bad communication on her mobile phone, she said in the lawsuit.
The husband rejected the claim and said his intent was not to spy on his wife, and that he instaled it to monitor the calls of the domestic helper.
Lawyer Khaled Abu Rashed said the action of a spouse to listen to the other’s phone conversations through recordings or any modern methods is considered a crime and spying, and could invite a hefty fine because the court has to consider both public and private rights of the aggrieved.
He said if the parties used what they heard through social media or the Internet, then this would be considered as an information crime, which carries a one-year prison sentence and a fine of SR500,000.