Saudi King drops lashing punishment for journalist

DUBAI: 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 program in which a man publicly spoke about indulging in pre-marital sex.

Rozana Al-Yami, who was working with a Lebanese TV channel that aired the program 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 publicizing and promoting sinful behavior 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.

"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.

-PTI