RIYADH, January 16 - RAPSI. A Saudi court has sentenced Egyptian human rights lawyer Ahmed al-Gizawi to five years in jail and 300 lashes. His arrest last spring triggered a diplomatic row between Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

Egyptian sources believe al-Gizawi was taken into custody for his criticism of the Saudi king. At the same time, the Saudi Embassy in Egypt circulated a statement that he had been arrested at the airport in Jeddah with a large quantity of drugs in his possession.

The judge who read the verdict called it "lenient." The ruling can be appealed within one month. Al-Gizawi's arrest and imprisonment last April sparked mass protests outside the Saudi Embassy in Cairo. The Saudi Government retaliated by recalling the Ambassador and shutting down diplomatic missions in Egypt.

The diplomatic row was eventually resolved after the personal intervention of both countries' leaders. Hundreds of thousands of Egyptian workers currently reside in Saudi Arabia, who went there in search of jobs.