King waives lashing sentence to Saudi woman scribe

King waives lashing sentence to Saudi woman scribe

29 October 2009

Riyadh: The Saudi king has waived the lashing punishment which a court had ordered to a Saudi female journalist working for a Lebanese television channel.for involving in a TV sex show.

According to the Information Ministry spokesperson, theKing Abdullah has directed that the sentence as per which the journalist Rozana al-Yami was to undergo 60 lashes, be dropped.

She was earlier accused of taking part in a TV show in which a Saudi man publicly talked about sex, which was highly unacceptable in this country which is conservative to the extreme.

Though Al Yami has denied the charges against her, she is the first woman Saudi journalist to get such a punishment

It has been learnt that the king has directed that this case and that of another lady journalist Iman Rajab who too is charged with involving in this case, be transferred to the Information Ministry committee.

Earlier, a court in the city of Jeaddah had sentenced her to 60 lashes for working in the TV show. Prior to this case, a Saudi airlines clerk Mazen Abdul Jawad who was convicted of offensive behaviour, had been sentenced to five years in jail and 1,000 lashes on October 7 for his appearance on the LBC show Bold Red Line, in which he talked about picking up girls and having sex with them.

According to the Information Ministry Spokesperson, the Jawad case would not be handled by the Ministry.