Saudi Arabia said on Sunday that it has closed the offices of a Lebanon-based television channel controlled by a billionaire reformist tycoon after a national boasted of his sexual exploits on its racy talk show Bold Red Line.
The company s offices in the commercial capital of Jeddah were locked shut on Saturday on the orders of Deputy Prime Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz, information ministry spokesman Abdul Rahman Al-Hazzaa told AFP.
It was because of the interview with Mazen Abdul Jawad, Hazzaa added, referring to a July episode of Bold Red Line in which Jeddah resident Abdul Jawad openly discussed his free-wheeling sex life and use of sex aids and toys.
The episode outraged Saudi conservatives, and Abdul Jawad and two of his friends who participated in the show were arrested last week.
Police are currently studying what charges to lodge. Saudi Arabia enforces a strict version of Islamic sharia law, which could form the basis of a variety of charges against them.
The government action against LBC had no immediate effect on the ability of Saudis to watch the channel, which is controlled by prominent Saudi liberal Prince Alwaleed bin Talal.
But it was highlighted by the Saudi press, which gave it front-page coverage.
Photographs of LBC s Jeddah offices with a notice reading This office has been closed under an order from the ministry of culture and information, were carried by most dailies.
The doors were sealed with red wax, the Al-Watan newspaper said.
LBC s Beirut-based management could not immediately be contacted.
Abdul Jawad, an employee of Saudi Airlines in his 30s, appeared on the provocative weekly talk show in mid-July discussing how he first had sex at 14 with a neighbor, used sex aids and liked to use his cell-phone s Bluetooth function to try to pick up women.
A five-minute segment posted on Youtube showed a casually-dressed Abdul Jawad lounging around an apartment apparently in Jeddah with three friends, and later heading out in his car ostensibly to cruise the streets of the Red Sea port.
The clip has since been blocked by the Saudi government internet censor.
In interviews after the issue blew up, Abdul Jawad apologised and accused LBC s producers of breaking a pledge to mask his face.
The case has focused attention on LBC, which broadcasts across the Arab world and hosts one of the most popular regional programs; the music contest and reality show Star Academy.
The channel and another regional entertainment company – Rotana – are controlled by billionaire Alwaleed, who has pushed hard to break down Saudi Arabia s tough bans on cinemas and popular music concerts, and its taboos on salacious or un-Islamic television content.
But he has come under stiff opposition from conservatives. In July, the first ever Jeddah Film Festival, sponsored by Rotana, was cancelled the day before it opened because of pressure from fundamentalist clerics.
That move temporarily forced Rotana to shelve plans to begin screening films inside the kingdom.
