The Saudi authorities arrested Ms Wafa on 30 September 2009 at the behest of a princess in the royal family with whom she had business dealings. The Saudi security forces raided the home of Ms Wafa and confiscated documents and belongings that are private or relate to her work as an Egyptian investor in the Kingdom. Ms Wafa was interrogated by investigators from the al-Suliemaniah police station for 4 days, during which she suffered mistreatment and was verbally abused by the investigator and the princess' lawyer. Ms Wafa, on the other hand, was not allowed to appoint a lawyer, following instructions given by her royal opponent.

When the interrogation ended, she remained in arbitrary detention without trial, for one year and 8 month, after which she came before the specialised criminal court in Riyadh, and was not offered any legal support or allowed to appoint a lawyer during 13 sittings of the court. The court sentenced her on 14 June 2011 to 5 years in jail and 500 lashes.

Ms Wafa appealed to the Supreme Court which decided to repeal the sentence for lack of evidence, but the case was illegally returned to the court, and Ms Wafa was forced to accept the sentence.

Ahmed Mefreh, Legal Coordinator in Alkarama's Egypt office, said Ms Wafa's case is one of hundreds of similar cases of Egyptian citizens who are unfairly detained for long periods, tried in unjust show trials and subjected to torture and mistreatment.

Indeed, Ms Wafa suffered further mistreatment and torture by her female guards, and was denied visits and contacts from her family for six months.

The Saudi authorities started carrying out the flogging part of the sentence towards the end of May and she was eventually subjected to a total of 300 lashes inside the al-Malaz prison at the rate of 50 lashes per week. 200 lashes remained to be administered following Ramadan. Ms Wafa suffers from spinal curvature (scoliosis), according to medical reports.

Ms Sherin Farid, the coordinator of the Association for the Families of Egyptian Detainees in Saudi Arabia said "The flogging of an Egyptian citizen who was detained arbitrarily and tried unfairly is an inhumane act". She added "unfortunately the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs did nothing to protect Ms Wafa". Ms Farid held the Saudi government responsible for the mistreatment and suffering which Ms Wafa has been subjected to.

Saudi Arabia is a signatory of the United Nations Convention against Torture, but its human rights record is full of breaches of this Convention: arbitrary arrests, torture and degrading treatment of Saudi citizens, and especially of foreign workers are commonplace.