A journalist in Saudi Arabia has been sentenced to 50 lashes in public and two months in prison for reporting on a protest against power cuts. The sentence was handed down on October 26 to Fahd al-Jukhaidib, a correspondent for national daily Al-Jazira, by the General Court in Qubba in northern Saudi Arabia, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW).
Al-Jukhaidib's article, describing the problems faced by Qubba residents as a result of frequent power cuts, was published on September 7, 2008. The journalist, who is also a principal of a local high school for boys, was charged with "incitement to gather in front of the electricity company."
The report in question had said:
Hundreds of citizens gathered in front of an electricity station in Qubba demanding that the company supply electricity in the town of Qubba. Repeated outages had caused damage to electrical appliances in houses and material losses for commercial business, and led to the declaration of an emergency situation for sick persons, in particular children and the elderly with asthma.
"One wonders what the judge who convicted al-Jukhaidib considered the greater ignominy: a public gathering to demand electricity, or publicising the gathering in the media," Christoph Wilcke, senior Middle East researcher at Human Rights Watch, said. "Free assembly and expression are both hallmarks of open, accountable societies, but they are in short supply in a country as repressive as Saudi Arabia."
Al-Jukhaidib's is not the first lashing ordered against a journalist in the Islamic country. Last year, a Jeddah court had sentenced female journalist Rozana al-Yami to 60 lashes for working at a Lebanese television channel that aired a sexual confessions programme. King Abdullah, however, had overturned the sentence.
