The Ministry of Culture and Information has reiterated that it is the “authority responsible for looking into all cases of a media or cultural nature arising through audio, visual or written forms of media and electronic publications”. In a press statement released Monday, official spokesman Abdul Rahman Al-Hazza' said that the ministry's jurisdiction was in accordance with “Royal Orders issued to avoid conflict of jurisdiction and to unify procedural measures”. “The relevant committees assigned to handle media cases contain Shariah and legal advisers as well as specialists from the ministry,” Al-Hazza' said. “They deal with complaints in the fields of media and culture and take the appropriate decisions which are then subject to approval by the Ministry of Culture and Information.” Saudi Gazette reported on Sunday that the Ministry of Culture and Information committee investigating a Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation recording of a program that resulted in the sentencing of Saudi man Mazen Abdul Jawad to five years in jail and 1,000 lashes of the whip had been heavily edited to deliberately misrepresent him. Mazen Abdul Jawad was convicted last October after appearing on LBC's satellite show “The Bold Red Line” in which he spoke openly of picking up girls, having sex and using sex aids. Complaints from the public following the broadcast also led to two-year prison terms and 300 lashes for three other Saudis who appeared on the program, while Abdul Jawad's lawyer argued before the court that jurisdiction in the case belonged to the Ministry of Culture and Information.
