In Saudi Arabia, domestic violence fine gets laughs

http://english.alarabiya.net/en/views/news/middle-east/2014/04/20/Saudi-introduces-penalities-for-men-who-beat-their-wives.html

This article is a year old, but still extremely important in the fight against domestic violence worldwide. In 2014, the Saudi ministry of social affairs made the decision to “penalize men who beat up their wives, fining them 50,000 royals, or $10,000.” Men took to social media joking about the new law, some using the hashtag on Twitter “beating up the wife for 50,000.” Some men made statements pertaining to the thought that beating up their wives is a right of nature and others consider it a right by Sharia law. The author of this article made the statement, “It’s as if they don’t know that prophet Mohammad never beat up a wife of his and actually described those who hit their wives as evil. But the ministry of social affairs denied this fact out of fear of upsetting “men’s civil peace.”