The Minister of Culture and Information, Dr. Abdul Aziz Khoja, has axed Baha's Literary Club chairman for falsely accusing a fellow club member of wanting a “live broadcast” of a woman's lecture to the men's side of the hall at a recent event. Khoja fired Ahmad Hamid Al-Mass'ad and replaced him temporarily with deputy chairman of the club, Hassan Mohammad Al-Zahrani until the club's board of directors can elect a new chairman. Khoja's decision comes in the wake of Al-Mass'ad accusing Dr. Ali Muhammad Al-Rubai, of trying to get organizers to transmit pictures of the women to the men's side of the Al-Khansa Hall. The club chairman had lodged a complaint with police, stating that Al-Rubai's alleged request was “Satanic”. Okaz has a copy of Khoja's letter spelling out his decision. The minister stated that the literary club represents a gathering of intellectuals and should at all times be above reproach. He stated that the ministry was responsible for overseeing the effective and efficient running of literary clubs across the Kingdom. Khoja stated that he had delegated an official to carry out his decision. When Mass'ad first made the allegations and lodged a complaint with the police, Al-Rubai immediately responded by informing the police that he was falsely accused. Al-Rubai was supported by the woman lecturer Mona Al-Mattrafi, her husband and other members of the club. Al-Rubai said he never wanted to see a display of female charms, which is known in Arabic as Al-Tabarruj. He then also placed an official complaint with the ministry. Al-Mass'ad backtracked shortly after the matter was reported in the media, and claimed he never laid a complaint with the police against Al-Rubai. Al-Mass'ad also claimed that he was misquoted by the media. However, Al-Rubai insisted that he had a copy of Al-Mass'ad's complaint to the police, which was written on a sheet of paper with the club's letterhead. Al-Mattrafi had also insisted that Al-Rubai had never made any lewd or unwarranted requests for the live video of her lecture to be shown to the men's audience. She said that Al-Rubai's comments should be taken in the context of a discussion she earlier had with the club's female media coordinator where she had suggested that an audio-visual show be held at the meeting, on the men's side, while her lecture took place. Al-Rubai had supported this proposal. However, the coordinator had stated that an audio-visual was not possible. She said that she “regrets” this incident ever happened, and that it was started “by a party that is considered to be a literary and cultural authority”. In a telephone interview with Okaz last week, Al-Rubai said he was convinced that the action taken by the chairman of the club was a “personal action” and did not represent the ministry or “how cultural affairs are administered”. “On the contrary, he represents himself and is unaware of the mechanism for cultural work and the authority that will look into cultural cases,” he said. Al-Rubai also lauded the position of Al-Mattrafi, saying that she has “high degree of cultural awareness”.
