SAUDI ARABIA: Court upholds sex swinger’s sentence of 5 years in prison and 1,000 lashes

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Regular readers of Babylon & Beyond will remember the case of the ‘Saudi swinger,’ the hapless young man in Jeddah who showed off about his sex life for an Arab television show and paid for it by being sentenced to jail and whippings.

This week, an appellate court upheld sex braggart Mazen Abdul Jawad’s sentence of five years in prison and 1,000 lashes.

According to Saudi Arabia’s English-language Arab News, the thirtysomething airline executive’s three buddies who appeared on the Lebanese Broadcasting Corp. show ‘The Bold Red Line’ were given sentences of two years in prison and 200 lashes.

The Saudi offices of LBC, one of the Arab world’s most popular television stations, were shut down over the scandal.

All hope is not lost for the Arabian Casanova. His lawyer told the English-language Saudi Gazette that he was certain the verdict would be annulled. He accused LBC of manipulating his client’s actions, which included whipping out a sex toy while on camera.

“We have presented to the ministry with proof of LBC’s distorting and dubbing and reediting of footage, and its contravening of Ministry of Culture regulations, and we have received assurance in a response from the ministry that it will take pertinent measures,” said a statement issued by attorney Solaiman Jumaii.Even if the sentence is curtailed, Abdul Jawad may not be able to return to his old ways.

During the show, he described how he drove around Jeddah flirting with the ladies via cellphone messages.

So Saudi authorities have seized his car and cellphone as part of his punishment.

-- Borzou Daragahi in Beirut