( CNN ) -- Husbands are allowed to slap their wives if they spend lavishly , a Saudi judge said recently during a seminar on domestic violence , Saudi media reported Sunday . It is OK to slap Saudi women who spend too much , a judge has told an audience . Arab News , a Saudi English-language daily newspaper based in Riyadh , reported that Judge Hamad Al-Razine said that `` if a person gives SR 1,200 [ $ 320 ] to his wife and she spends 900 riyals [ $ 240 ] to purchase an abaya [ the black cover that women in Saudi Arabia must wear ] from a brand shop and if her husband slaps her on the face as a reaction to her action , she deserves that punishment . '' Women in the audience immediately and loudly protested Al-Razine 's statement , and were shocked to learn the remarks came from a judge , the newspaper reported . Arab News reported that Al-Razine made his remark as he was attempting to explain why incidents of domestic violence had increased in Saudi Arabia . He said that women and men shared responsibility , but added that `` nobody puts even a fraction of blame '' on women , the newspaper said . Al-Razine `` also pointed out that women 's indecent behavior and use of offensive words against their husbands were some of the reasons for domestic violence in the country , '' it added . Domestic violence , which used to be a taboo subject in the conservative kingdom , has become a hot topic in recent years . Groups like the National Family Safety Program have campaigned to educate the public about the problem and help prevent domestic abuse . Saudi women 's rights activist Wajeha Al-Huwaider told CNN that Saudi women routinely face such attitudes . `` This is how men in Saudi Arabia see women , '' she said in a telephone interview from the Saudi city of Dahran . `` It 's not something they read in a book or learned from a friend . They 've been raised to see women this way , that they 're less than a person . '' Al-Huwaider added that `` I 'm not surprised to see a judge or a religious man saying that - they 've been raised in the same culture - a culture that tells them it 's ok to raise your hand to a woman that this works . '' Another Saudi judge , in the city of Onaiza , was the source of a separate recent controversy : he twice denied a request from the mother of an 8-year-old girl that the girl be granted a divorce from her 47-year-old husband . Last month , after human-groups condemned the union , the girl was granted the divorce .
Men allowed to beat their wives if they behave lavishly , Saudi judge says . Women in the audience immediately and loudly protested his speech . Newspaper reports he was trying to explain increase in domestic violence .