A judge in Washington state decided not to sentence a woman to jail or to levy a $500 fine for each day she refuses to release names of Saudi Arabian women who made negative comments on a Facebook page about a Saudi assemblywoman.
Samia El-Moslimany, a women’s activist and photographer who lives in Burien, Wash., and Saudi Arabia, had been ordered by courts in Massachusetts and King County to reveal the names of Saudi women who commented about Hayat Sindi, one of the first female assemblywomen in Saudi Arabia.
Last year in court, El-Moslimany offered copies of all the comments on the Facebook page with the commenters’ names redacted because she feared releasing the names could leave the women vulnerable to Saudi defamation charges punishable by jail time and lashing.
Sindi, who established U.S. residency to be a visiting scholar at Harvard University, wanted the names for a civil investigation into who hacked her email and Skype accounts in mid-2013.
On Friday, King County Superior Court Judge Mariane Spearman denied Sindi’s request to hold El-Moslimany in contempt of court because Sindi’s new lawyer could not specify which Facebook comments might be a basis for investigating any of the women.
Spearman indicated that she would be open to Sindi filing another motion to acquire names if there were more specific reasons to think the names would help in the hacking investigation.
“I don’t see why she should unredact everything,” Spearman said Friday to Sindi’s lawyer, Hozaifa Cassubhai, who said he had not yet read through the comments because some parts were illegible. “Go back and look and see if there’s even anything here that you think is relevant. At this point you don’t even know,” Spearman said.
El-Moslimany’s lawyer, Elena Garella, said she is relatively confident that even if another motion is filed for the names, Sindi’s lawyers would have a difficult time proving they have any potential connection to the hacking case.
El-Moslimany said the judge’s decision was a relief, but her conflicts with Sindi will continue to be a financial burden because of legal fees. Sindi also has filed a $10 million defamation case against El-Moslimany and her mother.
Their legal battles began when El-Moslimany posted on social media in 2012 an allegation that Sindi had had an affair with her husband. That post led to a Saudi defamation case. According to an affidavit submitted by El-Moslimany’s lawyer in that case, Sindi wanted El-Moslimany punished with a lashing, but a Saudi judge decided last year that El-Moslimany should spend four days in jail for the public defamation and that Sindi should spend two months in jail for forming an illicit relationship with El-Moslimany’s now-estranged husband.
In court documents, Sindi has denied having any physical relationship with El-Moslimany’s husband.
El-Moslimany sais that neither she nor Sindi served their sentences.
