The Ministry of Culture and Information will launch an investigation into the legal row between two members of the Al-Baha Literary Club, where one had accused the other of wanting a “live broadcast” of a woman's lecture to the men's side of the hall. The Minister of Culture and Information, Dr. Abdul Aziz Khoja, has confirmed Thursday that an investigation has been launched and that action would be taken if needed. The minister's comments come in the wake of the Al-Baha Literary Club chairman, Ahmad Hamid Al-Mass'ad, accusing a fellow club member, Dr. Ali Muhammad Al-Rubai, of trying to get organizers to have a woman's lecture broadcast live to the men's side of the Al-Khansa Hall. The club chairman had lodged a complaint with police Tuesday that Al-Rubai's alleged request was “Satanic”. However, Al-Rubai has been defended by the woman lecturer, Mona Al-Mattrafi, her husband and other members of the club. Al-Rubai said he never wanted to see a display of female charms, which is known in Arabic as Al-Tabarruj. Al-Mass'ad appeared to have backtracked shortly after the matter was reported in the media, and claims he never laid a complaint with the police against Al-Rubai. Al-Mass'ad also claims that he was misquoted by the media. However, Al-Rubai insists that he has a copy of Al-Mass'ad's complaint to the police, which was written on a sheet of paper with the club's letterhead. On Thursday, the minister called Okaz to comment on the situation and was critical of the club chairman's actions. “The chairman of the Al-Baha Literary Club should have referred the matter to the ministry. He shouldn't have been hasty in such matters,” said Khoja. In a telephone interview with Okaz, Al-Rubai, who is in Cairo to attend that city's book fair, welcomed the ministry's intervention. He said that when he decided that he was going to refer the matter to the ministry, it was because he was confident that the ministry would deliver “justice”. “I have absolute confidence in minister Khoja and his keenness to safeguard the honor and dignity of intellectuals,” said Al-Rubai. Al-Rubai said he was convinced that the action taken by the chairman of the club was a “personal action” and did not represent the ministry or “how cultural affairs are administered.” “On the contrary, he represents himself and is unaware of the mechanism for cultural work and the authority that will look into cultural cases,” he said. Al-Rubai also lauded the position of Al-Mattrafi, saying that she has “high degree of cultural awareness.” Al-Mattrafi has insisted that Al-Rubai had never made any lewd or unwarranted requests for the live video of her lecture to be shown to the men's audience. She said that Al-Rubai's comments should be taken in the context of a discussion she had two weeks earlier with the club's female media coordinator where she had suggested that an audio-visual show be held at the meeting, on the men's side, while her lecture took place. Al-Rubai had supported this proposal. However, the coordinator had stated that an audio-visual was not possible. She said she has a full recording of all the deliberations, which she obtained from the club. She said that these absolve Al-Rubai of the accusations. “If I had sensed any insult or anything else of this kind from Dr. Al-Rubai, my husband and I would have replied immediately. My husband was present in the men's hall.” She said that she “regrets” this incident ever happened and that it was started “by a party that is considered to be a literary and cultural authority”.
