Article 24 of the Saudi Protection of Whistleblowers, Witnesses, Experts and Victims Law

This article sets the penalty for disclosing what harms a protected person. Anyone who deliberately discloses, directly or indirectly, anything likely to harm a protected person is punished with:

• imprisonment for no more than one year,
• and a fine of no more than SAR 200,000,
• or either of these two penalties.

The intent requirement: the article requires the disclosure to be deliberate.

Subject to the exceptions: the article begins with the phrase "subject to what is provided in paragraph (2) of Article 16". That paragraph excepts from the ban on disclosure: the protected person's consent to disclosing their identity or any information that may indicate their personality; a request by a competent judicial body based on a court order, or by a security body, for information about their identity where there are reasons to believe they can provide information or evidence about a crime that has been committed or to prevent one; and a request by the security bodies for purposes related to national security, with disclosure only to the requesting body and within the narrowest scope. The article thus takes these excepted cases into account.

Article 25 sets a penalty of imprisonment for no more than 3 years and a fine of no more than SAR 500,000, or either, for anyone who uses force or violence against a protected person after they tell or disclose the truth, or to make them refrain from doing so.

Anyone facing an accusation of this kind, or harmed by it, can consult a lawyer who specializes in criminal cases.