SAUDI ARABIA
Saudi anger sends Indian editors to jail over American comic strip (1993)
When Johnny Hart of Creators Syndicate did one of the episodes of
his popular B.C. comic strip in the spring of 1993, he certainly did not
think that his innocent joke would send two Indian editors to a Saudi Arabian
prison. Balaram Menon, who worked in Jeddah for the Arab News
for the past 11 years, on March 7, 1993, allowed a "B.C." cartoon
to be published that Saudi officials felt questioned God's existence. For
that, Menon was sentenced to two years in prison and 500 lashes (a form
of physical punishment). His editor-in-chief, Farouk Luqman, received
a one year sentence and 300 lashes. To the editors' luck, the case received
heavy international publicity. That, as well as the tireless lobbying efforts
of Arab News and Creators Syndicate eventually led to a royal pardon
on September 14, 1993.
Johnny Hart's strip was taken seriously in Saudi Arabia as questioning
the existance of God |
