Saudi Gazette reports on an interview the head of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice gave to the Arabic daily Okaz. [Okaz is the sister paper to Saudi Gazette.]

While Sheikh Irabhim Al-Ghaith refrained from answering certain questions—including one about whether the Commission should be abolished!—he does say that a number of Commission officers have been incarcerated in one case and that it as well as two other recent cases are being investigated. Clearly, the Saudi media have sunk their teeth into the story of abuse of authority on the part of Commission members.

Ghaith: We’ll Talk Later

At least 18 members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice have been suspended pending investigations in three cases of abuse of power and use of excessive force, said commission czar Sheikh Ibrahim Al-Ghaith.

He told Okaz in an interview that 14 commission officers have been incarcerated in relation with the death of a young man in Riyadh.

Salman Al-Huraisi died at a commission’s office in Riyadh after its officers raided a house allegedly used to distill liquor.

Four other officers are already in detention for the death of a man in Tabuk after they had arrested him on suspicions of courting with an unrelated woman.

Ghaith said a full statement will be issued after investigations in these incidents have been completed.

He said that preliminary indications show that the Tabuk man’s death at the commission’s office was of natural causes.

He said that an investigating committee had also been formed to explore the death of a maid who threw herself from a fourth-floor apartment that was raided by commission members.
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