Court orders flogging for LBC’s female journalist
From today’s Saudi Gazette:
Jeddah – A court here Saturday sentenced a female Saudi journalist after a 90-minute hearing session to receive 60 lashes for her links with the Lebanese TV network LBC which broadcast a provocative show in July, sparking outbursts against the huge popularity of often-racy offshore broadcasts in the Kingdom.
Rosanna Al-Yami said a judge dropped all charges that she had been directly involved with the Bold Red Line on Beirut-based network LBC in which a Saudi man boasted of his sex life.
She does not intend to appeal, court sources said. The court has delayed the hearing into a second case of another female journalist involved in the show due to her health situation. However, Al-Yami said she was sentenced her to 60 lashes for having been a part-time employee for LBC’s Saudi operations. The judge said that LBC had lacked the appropriate operating license. “It’s a punishment for all journalists through me,” Yami told AFP by telephone.
AFP news agency adds a little more detail:
Yami, 22, until recently a reporter for the Arabic women’s magazine Roaa, said she did not know when her sentence would be carried out. She does not plan an appeal, saying she feared she could end up with a harsher sentence…
POSTSCRIPT – 27 OCTOBER: The Saudi king has now announced that the young woman in question has been pardoned.
Jeddah – A court here Saturday sentenced a female Saudi journalist after a 90-minute hearing session to receive 60 lashes for her links with the Lebanese TV network LBC which broadcast a provocative show in July, sparking outbursts against the huge popularity of often-racy offshore broadcasts in the Kingdom.
Rosanna Al-Yami said a judge dropped all charges that she had been directly involved with the Bold Red Line on Beirut-based network LBC in which a Saudi man boasted of his sex life.
She does not intend to appeal, court sources said. The court has delayed the hearing into a second case of another female journalist involved in the show due to her health situation. However, Al-Yami said she was sentenced her to 60 lashes for having been a part-time employee for LBC’s Saudi operations. The judge said that LBC had lacked the appropriate operating license. “It’s a punishment for all journalists through me,” Yami told AFP by telephone.
AFP news agency adds a little more detail:
Yami, 22, until recently a reporter for the Arabic women’s magazine Roaa, said she did not know when her sentence would be carried out. She does not plan an appeal, saying she feared she could end up with a harsher sentence…
