Dozens of foreign workers have been sentenced to flogging and jail for unrest during protests over unpaid wages by Saudi Binladin Group several months ago...reports...did not give the nationalities of the 49 workers...an unidentified number were sentenced to four months' jail and 300 lashes for destroying public property and inciting unrest...Others were jailed for 45 days by a court in Mecca...Construction sector workers...were left waiting for pay after a collapse in oil revenues left the kingdom unable to pay private firms it had contracted. A Saudi Binladin Group spokesman could not be reached on Tuesday.

The government said in November that it would pay its arrears to private firms by the following month. But on 22 December, Finance Minister Mohammed Aljadaan, after releasing the 2017 national budget, said money owed to the private sector would be paid "within 60 days"...[also refers to Saudi Oger].