Woman Journalist To Receive 60 Lashes

PR Log (Press Release) – Oct 30, 2009 – A Saudi Arabian court has ordered woman journalist, Rozanne al-Yami,22, to receive 60 lashes, after charging her as guilty, over her participation in a tv programme, in which a Saudi man publicly discussed sex.

"I am too frustrated and upset to appeal the sentence," Al-Yami said. She worked as a coordinator for the television show, but has denied working on the sex-show episode.

The program, which aired in July on the Lebanese LBC satellite channel, showed Mazen Abdul-Jawad describing an active sex life and displaying sex toys that were blurred by the station. The court sentenced Abdul-Jawad, who worked for the national airline, to five years in jail and 1,000 lashes. His lawyer, Sulaiman al-Jumeii, argues his client was fooled by the TV station and was unaware he was being recorded.

The government reacted swiftly, closing down LBC's two offices.

Three other men who appeared on the show, "Bold Red Line," were also charged with discussing sex openly and sentenced to two years imprisonment and 300 lashes each.
After giving birth in July, to an illegitimate child, whose father was a British man, a Saudi Arabian Princess was secretly granted asylum. She claimed she would face the death penalty if she were forced to return home.

The woman, who comes from a very wealthy Saudi family, revealed she met her English boyfriend - who is not a Muslim - during a London visit. The following year she became pregnant and was concerned that her older husband, who is a member of the Royal Family of Saudi Arabia, had become suspicious of her behavior. She influenced him to let her visit the UK again, in order to give birth in secret.

She feared that under Sharia law, her and her child would be subject to capital punishment, which could also include flogging and stoning, or an honour killing. Adulterers may also face beheadings, or hangings.

Last year in Saudi Arabia there were at least 102 executions of both men and women, which is an average of two every week.

A woman from Qatif, in 2007, was punished with 200 lashes and six months imprisonment, after being gang-raped. She offended cultural expectations because she got into a car with a former boyfriend, unaccompanied.

The man had agreed to give back a photograph of the woman who was about to marry another man. As they drove along a street they were stopped and arrested by seven men who raped them both. The woman originally was sentenced to 90 lashes, but when she appealed the sentence increased. She was pardoned after an international protest.

During a state visit to Britain in 2007 Saudi Arabia King Abdullah II was jeered as dozens of demonstrators turned out to protest his country's human rights record.

The punishment of 60 lashes for the journalist has been waived by King Abdullah, following intense international media attention.

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