The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice make another public mistake, according to this Arab News story. A woman and her husband were stopped by Commission members outside the city of Madinah. The religious police claimed that they were not married and sought to detain them—something that is ostensibly no longer permitted: the religious police must turn over to the regular police anyone they deem in violation of religious law.
One thing led to another… in this case, it led to the woman’s brothers charging off to Commission offices (including an erroneous one) and getting into physical altercations.
Vice cops accused of attacking married couple in Madinah
Fatima Sidiya I Arab NewsJEDDAH: A 22-year-old Saudi woman told Arab News yesterday that she and her husband of four years were stopped on a road by the religious police of Al-Jurf, west of the holy city of Madinah, accused of being an unrelated man and woman in an illegal state of seclusion (khulwa) at about 1 a.m. on Sunday.
“As we were driving home, my husband and I realized we were being followed by three men in a car,” said the woman, who did not want her name published. “They were coming from both sides of the car and (at one point in the chase) were also in front of our car. I was afraid of having an accident. The whole scene looked just like something in a movie.”
She also said that because no police officer was accompanying the three members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, her husband was afraid to stop. Eventually, the commission vehicle got in front of the car they were pursuing and forced the couple to stop, according to the woman.
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With elements of the government acting like this, it’s either paradoxical or ironic that the Shoura Council is drafting a law to curb sexual harassment. I wonder if the Commission and its members will be held accountable under this law?
JEDDAH: A sexual harassment law is being drafted by the Shoura Council and the Ministry of Labor, according to yesterday’s Al-Madinah newspaper. The draft law suggests a SR50,000 fine and a prison sentence of up to three years to people found guilty of sexually harassing women subordinates.
The law aims at reducing incidence of harassment in workplaces with women’s sections, such as hospitals and advertising agencies.
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October:07:2008 - 10:27
The religious police must be stopped from accusing, harassing, and intimidating innocent people like this. I find stories like this extremely alarming and frightening. The religious police here are out of control.
October:07:2008 - 10:27
I was really angry when I read the news on Monday, What happened no matter what the officials say the couple did.. What the vice police did was unforgivable, the offenses range from assault to an attempted kidnap to life endangerment. Comes Tuesday the Vice police head in Madina uses defamation claiming the girl was swapped by the wife.. I went ballistic, this is pure madness! How can her brothers get so angry that they assault the wrong local branch?
October:07:2008 - 10:27
What couples driving in Saudia Arabia need asap
October:07:2008 - 10:27
Almost… they need a camera that takes 360° images and, most importantly, records audio. It always comes down to challenging what the cops said: He said/she said.
Maybe something in a rooftop bubble? And stickers on the car saying, “This car has eyes and ears.”
October:07:2008 - 10:27
The most poignant part of the story to me is the quote below:
“She says that the incident has instilled fear in her about venturing out of the house.”
That is the point darling. Also, I am sure it has instilled fears in your dear husband too! I think she needs to go for a walk out on the streets at 2:00 a.m. with her husband in front of the commission and have like a sting operation this time to set them up.
My husband gives the stare of death if anyone looks at us…kinda freaky. No one ever really messes with us…we were accused of not being husband and wife once and my husband went ballistic only because a commission member talked to me. He is quite manipulative and was able to turn the tables quite effectively in a short time. He got all the other commission members on his side. That was like 14 years ago…
I can see why the woman’s brother tried to go to the commission because touching is way out of line with what is acceptable in Saudi Arabia.
October:07:2008 - 10:27
I think with them keeping this trend in the future, there will be a day when a Victim of their intrusion might have a firearm and end up using it.. leading to a huge tragedy.
October:07:2008 - 10:27
People have to fight back…it is not that easy to get a license for a firearm in Saudi.
Perhaps if someone is a hunter they might have a firearm or if they have a stiraha (Farm or greenhouse/ relaxation house in the desert). I don’t know the proper translation of the word…or if they are a terrorist but I doubt they would fire on the mutawa.
Maybe if they are in the army or military. I think a dog will do the job that is why mutawas don’t like them.
October:07:2008 - 10:27
I want to add I do advocate non-violence with the exception of if one is defending themselves after first being physically attacked.
I do also think it is a good thing that is hard to get a license for firearms in Saudi because tempers there seem to get aroused quite easily…
October:07:2008 - 10:27
I hadn’t noticed that it was difficult to get a firearm in Saudi, if you were a non-Shi’a Saudi male. Even fully-automatic weapons were pretty easily obtained.
I know when I’d go off-roading and stop by an area that had been used for camping by Saudis, I’d often find dozens, if not hundreds, of empty cartridges scattered around a campfire site.
Exuberance, hunting, poaching, training? Who knew?
October:07:2008 - 10:27
It might be easy to get a firearm, but it is not easy to get a license for one from what I was told.
Hundreds of empty catridges was probably due to lack of fun activities; other than let me shoot a gun off a million times.
October:07:2008 - 10:27
Please, I didn’t advocate violence in my post, I am just saying it’s highly possible that such complication might appear in the future.. does such an event have to unfold for them to see how their tactics can bring such misfortune.
I have held a revolver and an AK before, at times of the Gulf war, a lot of people got some arms and plenty of masks then. There was a lot of fright in the Eastern Region. A lot of people handed their weapons after the Interior Ministry made a huge PR run to disarm the citizens so they protect themselves of being wrongly accused of terrorist ties. Even with that, there are people who still have firearms in their possession and sometimes tragedy befalls the Saudi’s when some idiot uses them to resolve a conflict.
The problem is not here who saves the Saudi society from drowning in the pits of hell.. like 2 people in a car would drive the world down the road to apocalypse.. the problem is.. who saves the Saudi from the transgressions of the Vice police? When all they have to do is claim that you are a liar, your family smuggles drugs and they are all morally dissolved of any decency.. while they stand over your corpse with bloodied hands.