Manama: A Saudi man, jailed for five years after he bragged on television about how he seduced women, has been released, a local news site has said.
Mazen Abdul Jawad, 37, in 2009 appeared on the programme Bold Red Lineon Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation (LBC), an entertainment television station with a large number of viewers in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf.
The episode, taped in Mazen’s flat in the Red Sea city of Jeddah, triggered wide condemnation in a shocked Saudi Arabia where such talk is taboo, Sabq news site said on Tuesday.
In October, a court sentenced him to five years in prison and to 1,000 lashes for highlighting his sinful relations in public.
The court also imposed a five-year travel ban on Mazen after serving the prison term and barred him from talking to the media.
The car and the mobile phone he used during the taping of the episode about his sexual exploits were also confiscated.
Mazen and the other five defendants who appeared with him on the programme were referred to an advisory committee and to social psychiatrists, Sabq said.
Three of the defendants were sentenced to two years in jail and 300 lashes while the fourth was given a three-month jail term and 70 lashes and the fifth a two-month sentence.
The LBC offices in Saudi Arabia were shut down for violating rules by the culture and information ministry.
After spending a few months in the Briman prison in Jeddah, Mazen turned to religion and started learning the Quran. He eventually became the muezzin of the prison, the news site said.
Last year, reports widely circulated on social networks claimed that he had been released under a royal pardon.
However, the allegations proved to be baseless and Mazen remained in jail to serve the full sentence.
