Saudi Arabia shuts TV station over sex row

11 Aug 09 | Index Index, Middle East and North Africa, minipost

Saudi authorities have closed an office of an Arab TV station after it broadcast an interview with a man speaking frankly about sex and showing off erotic toys, a government official said today. Abdul-Rahman al-Hazza, spokesman for the ministry of culture and information, said the office of LBC, a Lebanese-based satellite TV station was closed because of the programme and because it was unlicensed. “The closure is indefinite,” Hazza said. The Saudi man, Mazen Abdul-Jawad, has been in detention since last Friday. Read more here

“Sex” censored on Microsoft search engine

04 Jun 09 | Index Index, minipost

Bing, the new search engine from Microsoft is varying search results of the term “sex” dependent on the country. The UK, US and all European countries produce long lists of results but Arabian countries, China, India and several others produce no results leading to accusations of censorship. Read more here