Saudi Arabia Sentences Woman Journalist to 60 Lashes for Too Sexy TV

Note: Article updated at 1:10 pm 10-24-09, with info from one of our readers.

Saudi Arabia is in the news today, having sentenced Rozanna al-Yami to 60 lashes, but no prison term, for her involvement in the “TV sex scandal” case that has rocked Saudi Arabia this summer.

In the program, which aired in July on the Lebanese LBC satellite channel (now closed in Saudi Arabia), Mazen Abdul-Jawad appears to describe an active sex life and shows sex toys that were blurred by the station. The same court sentenced Abdul-Jawad earlier this month to five years in jail and 1,000 lashes. via NYTimes

Al-Yami is believed to be the first Saudi woman journalist to receive such a punishment by a Saudi court.

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Rozana al-Yami said a Jeddah judge dropped all charges that she had been directly involved with a programme on Beirut-based network LBC in which a Saudi man boasted of his sex life, outraging Saudi conservatives and leading to the man’s imprisonment.

However, Yami said the judge sentenced her to 60 lashes for having been a part-time employee for LBC’s Saudi operations. The judge mentioned LBC had lacked the appropriate operating license, she said.

“It’s a punishment for all journalists through me,” Yami told AFP by telephone.

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We can imagine that this program “Bold Red Line” did indeed cause terrible problems within Saudi Arabia. Sorting through these enormous issues around women’s rights and female sexuality — but also the expression of sexuality generally — is a key plank of Anne of Carversville.

These challenges increase exponentially in the Internet age and that of digital broadcasting, where controlling the flow of information is more challenging than ever.

I refer you to an article written today in Asharq Alawsat, devoted not to this specific verdict and scandal but to the general advancement of Saudi Arabian women. Writer Mshari Al-Zaydi makes a case for a progression into the future for Saudi women, while acknowledging the cultural challenges ahead.

Commenting against the fundamentalist arguments that Islamic cultures should retreat back to their roots, Al-Zaydi argues that societies must reinvent themselves, strking a balance between heritage and the reality of today’s global lifestyles. Anne

Read: This is the Saudi Woman Asharq Alawsat