When Arabs live in Britain we are careful to advise them that our rules apply. They are not allowed to do many things they believe to be ok per their ‘home’ rules.
A Brit who has (condescendingly?) ‘dedicated’ his last 25 years to his job in Saudi, has been caught with home-brew wine and seems likely to suffer for it.
Why did he do it? He can’t claim ignorance of the rules. Maybe he’s always flouted them. But one thing is certain, he shouldn’t complain.
Boadicea's Chariot 
Silly man! (no, not you, Janus.) I suspect he’s been getting away with it for some time and has finally been caught out. That’s the risk you take.
He must be a candidate for an eventual Darwin Award.
But he has children, I think, so no award.
Bugrit! 😁
Everyone knows that Saudi is not a civilised country. What else was he expecting?
It’s a stupid law by Western standards – but he wasn’t living in a Westernised country and, as you say, when in Rome…
I tend to be more sympathetic. Apart from the fact that his treatment (He has already been in prison for fourteen months after being sentenced to twelve), is grossly excesssive by any decent standards, the rumoured flogging is barbarism, pure and simple. There is also more than a whiff of hypocrisy. Many high level Saudis drink. Nobody deserves to be beaten to death – no matter what he has done. And we notoriously ” respect cultural differences” where crimes committed by Muslims are concerned and so should Saudis. Now that Saudi Arabia chairs the UN Human Rights Commission, they need to show leadership and set a good example.
TB, surely nobody who has been up close and personal with SA for so many years can be in any doubt about the regime’s barbarism or determination to stamp out western practices like drinking alcohol. Their own hypocrisy simply compounds their ethical bankruptcy.