Saudi King scraps journo's lashing punishment

Saudi King Abdullah has waived a court sentence of 60 lashes handed down to a 22-year-old woman journalist, who was involved with a TV programme in which a man publicly spoke about indulging in pre-marital sex.

Rozana Al-Yami, who was was working with a Lebanese TV channel that aired the programme in July, was charged with involvement in the preparation of the show in Jeddah and advertising the segment on the internet. During the show, one Mazen Abdul Jawad spoke about his indulgence in pre-marital sex and provided explicit descriptions. His statements were viewed as an act of publicising and promoting sinful behaviour and violating social norms on the issues of dating and pre-marital sex in the ultra-conservative Saudi society.

The King also ordered the case be transferred to the Ministry of Culture and Information. The scrapping of the lashing punishment for Al-Yami is the second such pardoning by the monarch in recent years, Saudi Okaz reported on Tuesday. "It is a moment of triumph for the Saudi justice system for its transparency and being invulnerable to public opinion," said Adnan Al-Saleh, the lawyer of the journalist. The Ministry of Culture and Information is the authority tasked with looking

into violations of the Saudi media law, he said. The lawyer, however, intends to file a compensation case for alleged moral damage inflicted on the woman journalist.    

After the King issued the order, Judge Muhammad Amin Mirdad last night transferred the case to the Ministry of Culture and Information, saying it did not fall into the jurisdiction of the Shariah court but rather came under the laws of the Ministry. The court also mentioned that the Lebanese TV channel operated without an appropriate license in the kingdom.
    
The case filed against the Lebanese Broadcast Channel by Soleiman Al-Jumaii, the lawyer of Jawad who appeared on the channel describing his sexual adventures, is being looked into by the Ministry of Culture and Information, said Abdulrahman Al-Hazza, a spokesman of the Ministry.
    
"But it is still very early to hand down a judgment in the case as it must go through an investigation process under
media laws," Al-Hazza said. Al-Jumaii maintained that his client was duped by the TV station and was unaware in many instances that he was being recorded.
    
According to the media law in Saudi Arabia, a committee at the Information Ministry addresses media-related matters.