The Anti-Harassment Law doesn't leave the meaning of "harassment" to individual interpretation — it sets out a precise definition, and a penalty that automatically escalates in specific circumstances, including when the offence happens at work.
📜 The legal definition
"The crime of harassment means... any word, act, or gesture with sexual connotation, made by a person toward any other person, that touches their body or honor, or offends their modesty, by any means whatsoever, including modern technology."
Notice three important points in this definition: (1) physical touch is not required — a word or gesture is enough, (2) "by any means whatsoever" explicitly includes text messages and apps, (3) the act does not need to be repeated — a single incident is enough for the crime to exist.
⚖️ The base penalty and the aggravated penalty
"Whoever commits harassment shall be punished by imprisonment not exceeding two years and a fine not exceeding one hundred thousand riyals... The penalty for harassment shall be imprisonment not exceeding five years and a fine not exceeding three hundred thousand riyals... in case of recidivism or where the crime is combined with any of the following: ... (d) if the crime occurred in a workplace, place of study, shelter, or care facility... (c) if the offender holds direct or indirect authority over the victim."
If the harassment happened at your workplace, or the offender holds authority over you (your direct manager, for example), the penalty automatically jumps from a maximum of two years/100,000 SAR to a maximum of five years/300,000 SAR. The law treats workplace harassment as an aggravating factor, not an ordinary occurrence.
- Anti-Harassment Law — Article 1: definition of the crime
- Anti-Harassment Law — Article 6: base and aggravated penalty