Cancer patient loses case against tobacco firm

A Saudi court has dismissed a damages case filed by a local man suffering from throat cancer against a tobacco company in the Gulf Kingdom on the grounds he voluntarily accepted to take “poison.”

In a report from the western Red Sea port of Jeddah on Tuesday, Okaz Arabic language daily said the court told the unnamed plaintiff that there is no clear-cut medical evidence that his throat cancer was caused by smoking.

“Moslem scholars have established that if someone gives poisoned food to a man and told him about the poison, then there should be no punishment of the one who provided the food,” judge Sheikh Abdul Rahman Al Husseini said.

The judge said his sentence was also based on the fact that smoking is not the only cause of cancer, adding that many other persons have suffered from cancer although they do not smoke.

“Man is responsible for his acts and the one who is involved in hurting or killing himself should not expect to be refunded,” the judge said.

Okaz said the man was demanding $10 million in damages from the unidentified tobacco firm, blaming it for his throat cancer.

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