9/13/2008: Intel News Brief: Saudi Official: Kill Broadcasters Who
Show Immoral Content:

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Saudi Arabia's top judiciary official has
issued a religious decree saying it is permissible to kill the owners
of satellite TV networks that broadcast immoral content.

The 79-year-old Sheik Saleh al-Lihedan said Thursday that satellite
channels cause the "deviance of thousands of people."

Many of the most popular Arab satellite networks — which include
channels showing music videos often denounced as obscene by Muslim
conservatives — are owned by Saudi princes and well-connected Saudi
businessmen. Al-Lihedan did not specify any particular channels. Al-
Lihedan is chief of the kingdom's highest tribunal, the Supreme
Judiciary Council. Saudi Arabia's judiciary is made up of Islamic
clerics whose decrees, or fatwas, on everyday issues are widely
respected. Their fatwas do not have the weight of law. In the courts,
cleric-judges rule according to Islamic law, but interpretations can
vary.