Taking Smoking Restrictions A Bit Too Far.

Whether you are a smoker, and ex-smoker or a non-smoker, there are some restrictions in place on where you can smoke.

Most places do not allow smoking in them. Restaurants, bars, theaters, offices, hospitals, schools, etc... The list gets longer every year. There is one place that smoking isn't allowed any more: Airplanes. The penalty is civil fines for smoking on an airline flight range from $2,200 for smoking in an airplane seat or cabin to $3,300 for smoking in an airplane lavatory. Tampering with a smoke detector installed in an airplane lavatory is punishable by a $2,200 fine. 14 C.F.R. § 121.317(g), (h), (i) (2005); 49 U.S.C.A. § 46301 (2005) in the United States.

But in Saudi Arabia, a fine is not even the option.

A PASSENGER has been sentenced to 30 lashes for smoking on a domestic Saudi Arabian Airlines (SAA) flight.

The Sudanese man will be flogged by police after refusing repeated requests from cabin crew to stub out his cigarette, despite being told smoking is banned on Saudi's national carrier.

The passenger, on a flight to the Red Sea port of Jeddah from Qurayyat, was arrested when the aircraft landed in Jeddah and promptly handed over to police, reports the Saudi Gazzette.

A judge handed down the sentence despite the man proving he was attending a clinic to help kick the habit.

Wearing just a thin shirt, the unnamed passenger will be flogged by a policeman wielding a slim reed who must hold a book under his arm to prevent him using too much force.

The strokes are not meant to leave permanent damage but to inflict painful welts that bleed and bruise.

Smoking was banned on domestic flights of Saudi's national carrier SAA in 1987 and on overseas flights in 1999.

Last April a man caught smoking on a domestic Saudi flight was sentenced to 50 lashes. His cigarette triggered a smoke alarm that led to panic among passengers.

I understand that some of the radical non-smokers in the US would love to impose this sentence on all smokers. And in a few years, it just might become the law here too.