A Saudi judge’s remarks, sanctioning a man to slap his wife for lavish spending, led to an outcry by activists at a seminar on the role of judicial and security officials in preventing domestic violence.

Jeddah judge, Hamad al-Razine, while speaking at the seminar acknowledged the depth of the problem of domestic violence — until recently not acknowledged as a serious issue in the ultra-conservative Muslim country — but said slapping a spendthrift wife was justified. “If a person gives 320 dollars to his wife and she spends 240 dollars to purchase an abaya (a long, loose fitting overcoat covering the body from head to toe) from a brand shop, and if her husband slaps her on the face as a reaction to her action, she deserves that punishment,” al-Razine said.