RIYADH - The Saudi king has waived the lashing a court ordered against a journalist 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 said.
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 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.
The controversial segment had sparked about 100 complaints to local Saudi justice officials.
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.
Hazaa underlined that Abdul Jawad's case will not be addressed by the ministry's committee.
Abdul Jawad's lawyer Sulaiman al-Jimaie expressed disappointment at the decision not to refer his client's sentence to the information ministry committee.
"You cannot separate the cases. This is one TV programme," he said.
He also complained that the producers of the programme and the owners of the network were not punished.
The programme triggered criticism from conservative Saudis of LBC and its flamboyant, progressive owner, multi-billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal.
According to reports on Saturday, LBC has decided to stop broadcasting "Bold Red Line" outside of Lebanon.
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