3 May 2009

Thirteen Saudi women journalists have filed complaints accusing a local online newspaper of “defaming and distorting the image of the Saudi media.”

“The defamation complaints against the e-newspaper, Kul Al-Watan (All of the Homeland), were filed with the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Culture and Information, the Human Rights Commission (HRC) and the Saudi Journalists’ Association (SJA),” said Suad Al-Salim, the Saudi journalist who heads the group that filed the complaints.

Al-Salim said the online newspaper published a report entitled “Saudi Women in Red Nights” in which it alleged that prostitution, alcohol and drugs have become widespread in Saudi society, and that women journalists rely on illicit relationships with newspaper bosses to get support and fame.

“The report is offensive to Saudi media and Saudi women journalists. Saudi media have been able to build a relationship of trust and integrity with society. How will this relationship sustain after the publishing of this report?” said Al-Salim.

She said the report castigated both Saudi media and Saudi society and that the descriptions were unbelievable.

“The writer talked about cases not based on truth. He only wanted to promote sensationalism,” she said, accusing the writer of taking advantage of an absence of censorship on online publishing in Saudi Arabia.

Al-Salim said that when women journalists responded to the defamatory article, the newspaper deleted the portion referring to the media but kept other sections that discussed issues such as prostitution.

She said women journalists wrote letters to the four government bodies in their capacity as Saudi citizens as well as journalists. “We are confident that the four government bodies will take necessary action, especially since there is a department at the Ministry of Interior that deals with defamation through online content,” she added. Al-Salim stressed that all foreign establishments obtain their information about the Kingdom from the local media. “How could a journalist depict our society as one full of vice and corruption?,” she asked.

Al-Salim hopes the complaints will put an end to the publication of defamatory articles on the Internet and expedite the drafting of a law that would protect individuals and organizations against online defamation.

Turki Al-Sudairy, chairman of the SJA, said the association would support the women journalists in the case and called for the close monitoring of online publications. “The report was not only offensive to Muslim society, the media and journalists, but it was offensive to the entire homeland,” he said, describing the writer as “an enemy of his own country.”

Lawyer Adnan Al-Omari expressed his readiness to represent the women journalists should they decide to take their case to court. He said if the writer failed to prove his claims, he might be charged with defamation and slander under Islamic law. Al-Omari added that the punishment for such crimes was imprisonment and lashing. He added that the lawsuit would be considered a case of both personal and public right, as it concerned a certain profession and all those working in it.

However, Hedayah Darwesh, chief editor of the online newspaper, refuted the accusation that the original story was altered saying, “We did not change the report originally posted online. Its current content is the same as what was published initially. Nobody made any changes.”

She added that the report did not refer to journalists.

Declining to continue any further discussion on the topic, Darwesh said, “The issue is now in the hands of responsible authorities.”

On the other hand, Al-Salim reiterated her accusation and said she kept a copy of the original report before changes were made to it. “Instead of denying the report, the online writer should have apologized to us,” Al-Salim said.