The Saudi king has waived the lashing a court ordered against a woman for working at a Lebanese television channel that aired a sexual confessions programme, an official said on Monday. "He (King Abdullah) has asked the ministry of justice to drop the lashing" against journalist Rozana al-Yami, information ministry spokesman Abdul Rahman al-Hazaa told AFP.
Hazaa said that the king has ordered the "transfer of the cases to the ministry of information," referring to Yami's case and that of another female journalist, reportedly named Iman Rajab, who was convicted of working for the same controversial programme which caused a stir in the conservative kingdom.
Yami, 22, said on Saturday she was sentenced to 60 lashes by a court in the Red Sea city of Jeddah for having worked part-time in Saudi Arabia for the Saudi-owned Lebanese network LBC, adding that the judge mentioned that LBC had lacked the appropriate licence to operate in the kingdom.
She said the judge dropped all charges that she had been directly involved with the episode of the programme, which was aired in July. Saudi judges base their rulings on strict Islamic Shariah law, but it was not immediately clear how the judge in this case reached the verdict.
The information ministry committee which will look into the two cases, usually addresses media-related matters. It consists of representatives of the justice and information ministries as well as a number of journalists. Yami's sentencing came after Saudi airline sales clerk Mazen Abdul Jawad was convicted of offensive behaviour and 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.