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Saudi Woman Journalist Sentenced to 60 Lashes
25-Oct-2009
Written by: Blakely Slater
The airing of a show focusing on sex in the ultraconservative Saudi Arabia has resulted in 5 violent sentences.
A Saudi female journalist was sentenced to a violent punishment on Saturday in the Jeddah Summary Court.
Rozanna-al-Yami, 22, was ordered to endure 60 lashes for her involvement with a television show that focused on men’s sexual exploits, the AP reports.
The Lebanese LBC satellite channel aired “Bold Red Line” in July. Mazen Abdul-Jawad and three other men appeared on the show to discuss their sex lives and display various toys they used, which were blurred out by the station.
While al-Yami admitted that she works for the LBC program, she denied ever having worked on the controversial episode in question. Her punishment marks the first time a Saudi journalist has been dealt with in such a way.
According to al-Yami, Judge Muhammad Amin Mirdad dropped the charges against her, which included involvement in preparation of the show and advertising the segment on the Internet, but still gave her the sentence only “as a deterrence.” Nevertheless, al-Yami does not plan to take further action.
“I am too frustrated and upset to appeal the sentence,” al-Yami told the AP.
In Saudi Arabia, one of the most conservative countries, the government has shut down the LBC’s two offices.
Earlier in October, Abdul-Jawad was sentenced to 5 years in jail and 1,000 lashes. The other three men who participated in the show were ordered to serve 2 years in prison and given 300 lashes each.
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