Journalist gets flogging reprieve from Saudi king

SAUDI ARABIA’s king waived a flogging sentence on a female journalist charged for involvement in a risque TV show, the second such pardoning of such a high-profile case by the monarch in recent years.

King Abdullah’s decision to waive 22-year-old journalist Rozanna al-Yami’s sentence of 60 lashes by a judge in Jiddah followsintense international media attention.

The journalist was charged with helping coordinate a talk show on a Lebanese channel featuring a Saudi man describing what appeared to be his active sex life. Though the charges against her were dropped, the judge ordered the flogging as a “deterrent”, al-Yami said.