JEDDAH: Mazen Abdul Jawad may not be out of hot water yet for his lewd remarks made on LBC’s “Red Line” last week, but for the time being he is not sitting in a jail cell.
Abdul Jawad raised a storm of anger after appearing on the program talking about the topic of sex in a manner that would be considered racy even by more liberal cultural standards, especially for a program airing on a major network in the 9:30 p.m. slot.
But contrary to media reports in the local Arab press, Abdul Jawad is not in jail.
The 32-year-old airline employee has started a campaign of damage control as the public and the authorities discuss what to do with him should he be charged and found guilty of publicizing vice and/or confessing to pre-marital sex. Jail time and lashings has been discussed as a possible punishment.
On Sunday, Abdul Jawal appeared in the pages of a local newspaper apparently wiping away tears from a handkerchief as he apologized and begged for forgiveness.
He maintains that the show’s producers made him appear in the worst possible manner by taking two hours of footage and condensing it down to a minutes-long segment. The show is known for profiling Arabs from different countries and for tackling more taboo subjects.
“We will study the case and eventually present it to the Ministry of Information,” said Ashraf Al-Sarraj, the lawyer representing Abdul Jawad in his complaint against LBC.
Abdul Jawad said he is surprised the producers used the footage, which among other things shows him sitting in his bedroom heavily decorated in red accessories. In one scene he shows the camera oils and sex toys (the latter were digitally censored by the program’s producers). In another he discusses a sexual encounter that he claims took place with a neighbor when he was 14. Other parts of the segment have him talking graphically about what he enjoys about sex. At the end of the clip, Abdul Jawad is seen heading out into the night to pick up girls.
A summary court in Jeddah has received a torrent of complaints from citizens. Legal experts are saying that even if Abdul Jawad’s comments aren’t taken as a confession of pre-marital sex, he could still be found guilty of the crime of publicizing vice. The punishment for publicizing vice is at the discretion of the judge. If Abdul Jawad ends up defending himself in court he could face a strict punishment of years in prison and lashes.
LBC refused to comment on the matter until it has more time to formulate a response.
Meanwhile, online forums in Saudi Arabia are filled mostly with disgust regarding Abdul Jawad’s performance on the program. It has yet to be seen if his campaign of contrition will be enough to shift this sentiment.
Abdul Jawad is a divorced father of four children, the eldest of which is 14.
