Man faces prison, flogging over TV sex revelations |

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JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (Reuters) – A Saudi court has sentenced a man to five years in jail and 1,000 lashes for boasting about his sexual exploits on television, in a case that has divided public opinion in the conservative Islamic kingdom.

Abdul-Jawad, a divorced father of four, was arrested in August after discussing his premarital sexual encounters, showing off his pick-up techniques and displaying some sex toys and lubricants on a Lebanese TV program.

His comments caused a public outcry in Saudi Arabia, where the religious elite has vast powers over society and religious police enforce the segregation of men and women in public.

King Abdullah has begun to reform education and the judiciary in recent years, partly to discourage Islamic militancy. But he faces resistance from clerics and conservative princes and analysts say the case gives fresh momentum to some clerics' calls for strict curbs on social freedoms.

Three of Abdul-Jawad's friends who appeared on the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation (LBC) were sentenced to two years in jail and 300 lashes each.

LBC is a popular channel in Saudi Arabia, one of the world's most conservative societies, and many Saudis tune into its Western-style entertainment programs and talk shows.

Abdul-Jawad, 32, spoke from his bedroom on an episode of "In Bold Red." He was shown driving his red convertible to a shopping mall where he said he used his mobile phone to pick up girls.

A court official said that, on top of the lashings and jail sentence, Abdul-Jawad's phone and car would be confiscated and he would be banned from traveling after completing his term.

"Dont push! Don't push," a distressed Abdul-Jawad yelled as he struggled in the grasp of two policemen escorting him out of the judge's office in Jeddah Wednesday.

Lawyers say Abdul-Jawad could have been given the death penalty. Judges, who are clerics of Saudi Arabia's strict Wahhabi school of Islam, have wide powers of discretion.

Abdul-Jawad's brother said it would be difficult for him to be accepted back into society.

"Now he has been fired from his job and after his jail term it won't be possible for him to get a job in government or the private sector because he was charged with a case of moral indecency," the brother, who did not want to be named, told Reuters.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20091007/od_nm/us_sex_ruling

Good to see there are still some parts of the world that haven't abandoned decency. Tell you what, the streets are much safer there!

I'll skip commenting on the obvious, how the average American would feel about the state taking liberties with free speech and all... Since it's in another country, and since, in spite of myself and my love of freedom, I am snickering. Maybe the fact that this is real isn't sinking in because I just can't help picturing this swaggering machismo bragging about his stats one minute and the next minute getting his heinie whupped for it.

No kidding, deep down some part of my sensibilities really is crying out at the injustice of the extremity of their actions. Probably. Whatever the case, it was stupid to brag on tv.

He is a dummie!
He should have done what many of his countrymen do: fly to Phuket and have some anonymous fun there. Don't talk about it on the telly though.

What a horrible thing to do to somebody just for bragging about sex. Is it even possible to survive 1,000 lashes? I'm sure the people who handed down this sentence feel that they are morally superior to him but I think it's the other way around. He just had sex and bragged about it. They are actively evil.

Oh well, when you're bragging about sex in the western world you are a male chauvinist pig and get 1000 moral lashes.

Well, the entire country of Saudi Arabia is mentally ill, so this comes as absolutely no surprise and this is a relatively minor thing considering what they usually punish people for, like witchcraft.

I wouldn't want this guy dating my sister but beating and jailing him.. thats just uncalled for.

Glad I don't live there.

They're going to be "merciful" and break the guys "lashing" up over the course of his incarceraion. What wonderfully sterling moral custodians they surely are.

And the saudi s are very good friends with the yankees.
Like the germans say: erst kommt das ol, dann die moral(oil first, then ethics).

He got what was coming.