Islamic respect for freedom of speech: 60 lashes for covering a story about a man boasting about violating Sharia! Sharia Alert from the Land of the Two Holy Places: "Saudi journalist sentenced to 60 lashes," by Mohammed Jamjoom for CNN, October 24:
(CNN) -- A Saudi court sentenced a female journalist Saturday to 60 lashes for her work on a controversial Arabic-language TV show that aired an episode in which a man bragged about his sex life, two sources told CNN.The court in Jeddah also imposed a two-year travel ban on Rosanna Al-Yami, according to a Saudi Information Ministry official, who could not be named because he is not authorized to speak to the media. The ban prevents her from traveling outside Saudi Arabia.
This official identified Al-Yami as a fixer, who helps journalists obtain stories, and a coordinator for Lebanese Broadcasting Corp., the network that aired "A Thick Red Line," a popular show on social taboos.
On one episode, a Saudi man, Mazen Abdul Jawad, bragged about sex and got into trouble with Saudi authorities for his boasts. Abdul Jawad was put on trial and sentenced to five years in prison and 1,000 lashes.
Suleiman Al-Jumeii, the attorney who represents Abdul Jawad, also confirmed the sentence against Al-Yami, saying he believes she is the first Saudi journalist ever to be sentenced to lashes.
While the charges include involvement in preparing the program, she was not involved in setting up the episode in which Abdul Jawad appeared, the lawyer said.
Al-Jumeii doesn't represent Al-Yami, but he said he is keeping tabs on all aspects of cases dealing with "A Thick Red Line." The lawyer is attempting to pursue an appeal for his client and get his case heard in a special court that deals only with media matters.
CNN has attempted to get comments from Al-Yami and her attorney.
Abdul Jawad, a 32-year-old airline employee and divorced father of four, spoke openly about his sexual escapades, his love of sex and losing his virginity at age 14 on "A Thick Red Line."
That episode caused an uproar in deeply conservative Saudi Arabia, where Shariah, or Islamic law, is practiced. Premarital sex is illegal, and unrelated men and women are not permitted to mingle....
Memo to CNN: "conservatives" don't usually sentence journalists to lashings. And not for want of candidates.
Wow - 60 lashes for the woman, and 1,000 lashes for the man.
Memo to MSM: All cultures are equal and who are we to judge, right?
Are Saudis allowed to do "the deed" to music, or is music anti-Islamic too?
Music unites the world through peace.
Islam divides the world through violence.
Jew Lover
The cnn 'journalist' who wrote this article should get 1000 lashes for failing to mention islam in the article. As if islam has nothing to do with this! These are cruel and inhuman punishments inflicted by worldwide guardians of islam as required by conventional islamic values. Journalists have a duty to warn readers about the horrors and injustice of sharia law. Journalists have a duty to warn readers about the horrors and insidious savagery of the cult of isalm!
If only we could get the same punishment laws enforced by the HRCs in Canada, then we’ll be cooking with gas. What, to soon? Hell, if you want to legislate how people think, you gotta get tough!
This story did get a mention today on CBC and BBC, but they didn’t really explain much or get into the history of it. It was all so presented as a normal story from “that” part of the planet where such punishments are normal, so forget about it.
"Flagellation is a form of punishment used in certain cases under Islamic Sharia law. In Islam, lashes for punishment are to be performed with a book under one arm to minimise the swing, are not supposed to leave permanent scars, and when the number of lashes are high, are frequently done in batches to minimise risk of harm." -- wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flagellation#Islam
Why not just call it in fine, and be done with it?
File this with death fatwas against Mickey Mouse, permission to eat mermaids, and sentences of lashes for nothing.
Geert Wilders is right; this is retarded.
Funny that what is radical is described as "conservative". Sometimes I even see it in the same sentence, such as "The radical Wahabi version of Islam is followed in deeply conservative Saudi Arabia" (not in this document though).
Regarding the whole "Memo to x: "conservatives" don't usually..." comments I've seen here from time to time: Muslims are pretty much the epitome of conservatism (even if not traditional American Christian conservatism, though there are a lot of similarities), so I don't think that these comments are necessarily accurate. They're definitely not liberal anyway.