JEDDAH: There has been no official complaint of blasphemy against Al Arabiya news channel yet, a senior official has confirmed.
“We have so far not received any information about a case filed by a number of citizens against the channel,” Assistant Undersecretary for Local Media Abdul Rahman Al-Hazza said.
Al-Hazza is heading the Ministry of Culture and Information’s three committees that deal with print, broadcast and publishing violations, as well as the rights of authors.
Last Thursday Arab News reported that the case had been filed at the Jeddah Summary Court, which in turn submitted it to the justice minister to refer to the ministry.
“Whenever we receive such a case we deal with it in the same way as other cases,” Al-Hazza said, adding that the case would be studied prior to handing it over to the relevant committee.
He added the case against Lebanese channel LBC filed by sex braggart Mazen Abdul Jawad through his lawyer was still being considered. “When this is completed, the committee will issue its verdict and inform the litigants about it,” Al-Hazza said.
He also denied receiving any complaint from the public prosecutor against Saudi woman journalist Iman Rajab, accused of being involved in the program featuring Abdul Jawad, who bragged about his sexual adventures on LBC. It was reported on Friday that the public prosecutor had decided to refer the case against her to the ministry’s committee on violations.
On the decision to fine the editor in chief of Al-Riyadh newspaper and ban one of its reporters for life after it published a fake interview, Al-Hazza said the committee dealing with the case was acting according to regulations and had its legal reasons and justifications.
Turki Al-Sudairi was fined SR50,000 and Yasser Al-Maarik was banned from writing for life. Al-Hazza said they had the right to appeal against the verdict within 60 days at the Court of Grievances.
He added representatives from the ministries of justice, interior and commerce were also involved in the three committees and membership was not limited to staff from the Ministry of Culture and Information.
He said that according to the law, rulings issued by the committees could include fines and closure.
Meanwhile, cameraman Omar Filmban, the sixth suspect in the Abdul Jawad case, has been released. The Jeddah Summary Court had initially sentenced him to three months imprisonment and 70 lashes.
On Saturday the court heard a petition from Filmban, who claimed he had gotten the titles of a program he advertised through his e-mail and the episode featuring Abdul Jawad mixed up. Judge Muhammad Amin Mirdad told Arab News that he had told prison authorities to release him.
