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Youtube: Saudi young man impersonating a police officer arrested and charged with morality crimes

Categories: Saudi Arabia, Legal Threats

Update 1: On March 22nd, 2010, Pinkpaper.com reported [1] that Ahmad al-Faqih was sent to jail for a year, fined $1,330, and will be lashed 1,000 times for appearing in a gay-themed video.

According to Arab News [2], a 27-year-old Saudi man, Ahmad al-Faqih, has been arrested in January for making and publishing a humoristic and sexually charged [3] video on Youtube [4] and has been charged with morality crimes [3]. The young man was impersonating a police officer and flirting with a person off-camera:

The video depicts a young Saudi man dressed in a police uniform inside a vehicle flirting with the man holding the camera. He asks the cameraman for his driver’s license and offers “comfort.”

At one point, he waves around what appears to be a real handgun. Later in the approximately two-and-a-half-minute video on YouTube, he lifts up his shirt and rubs his chest. The video quickly spread online and through SMS until police detained both men involved in the act. Attempts have been made to block the video from being viewed in Saudi Arabia.

According to Police Lt. Nawaf Bouq, who told Arab News [2], the young man is facing three charges: One is for homosexuality; the other for general security; and the third is for impersonating a police officer.