Saudi women get jail terms for trying to help Canadian

A Saudi court handed two Saudi women 10-month jail sentences today for seeking to help a Canadian woman who wanted to leave her Saudi husband with their children, human rights activists said.
The court also banned Fawzia al-Ayuni and Wajiha al-Huaider from leaving the kingdom for two years, rights activist Aql al-Bahli said.
They have a month to appeal against the judgement.
The two women were convicted of the Islamic sharia law offence of takhbib, or incitement of a wife to defy the authority of her husband, Bahli said.
They had been briefly detained by police a year and a half ago in the company of the Canadian woman who at the time wanted to flee the kingdom with her children after a row with her husband, he added.

Regional rights group the Gulf Forum for Civil Societies expressed "deep concern" over the jail sentences handed down against two women, who had "defended a humanitarian right".
It urged the Canadian government to intervene with the Saudi authorities on the women's behalf.