DUBAI - A blasphemy case has been filed against Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television channel in a Jeddah court, according to an Arab News report on Thursday.
The station, which is part of MBC Group and operates from Dubai, faces accusations of ridiculing God and the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad, the newspaper reported citing a judge.
“This will not make God happy nor His Prophet as well as Muslims who are enthusiastic about their religion, especially as we are in the land of the Two Holy Mosques and the place of revelation where God has helped its leaders to implement Sharia, support His religion and call others to it,” the lawsuit said, according to Arab News report.
The judge, Muhammad Mirdad, said the lawsuit was filed by a group of citizens and it has been sent to the Saudi government for referring it to the Ministry of Culture and Information because it relates to the media.
Khaled al-Matrafi, a representative of the channel, told the newspaper that he had not received any official information about the court case.
Saudi Arabia enforces strict Islamic law and mocking religion or explicit discussions about sex are not allowed.
It shut the offices of Lebanese Broadcasting Corp (LBC) in August in the wake of the scandal surrounding a divorced father-of-four, who boasted about his sex antics on one of the TV network’s popular talk shows.
The man was jailed earlier this month for five years.