In an op-ed piece for Arab News, Saudi attorney Khalid Alnowaiser comments that the role of Saudi Arabia’s Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice needs to be re-examined. Currently, he says, the religious police operate in a way that violates basic human rights as stated in both the International Declaration of Human Rights and the Arab Declaration. They violate international treaties to which Saudi Arabia has agreed be bound.
He offers a list of the types of violations that occur as well as a brief list of how the conduct of the Haia should be limited. One of his suggestions – that the religious police restrict themselves to dealing with online issues rather than on the streets – strikes me as superfluous, though. The unfolding tale of Hamza Kashghari indicates that there are enough hyperalert monitors already in place.
Policing the religious police in Saudi Arabia
KHALID ALNOWAISERRecently, the Saudi government appointed a new president for the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice who is known to be a more open-minded and progressive thinker.
However, the problem is not so much with the individuals on the commission but with the institution itself and how it operates.
For example, its executive bylaws in many respects are vague and have allowed some of its members to violate basic human rights, including in some cases the physical and verbal abuse of Saudi citizens.
Unfortunately, the commission’s executive bylaws outlined its powers and functions in only a general way, allowing too much license in how its mission was to be achieved.
As a result, this has led to the violations that are committed by the commission’s members. Indeed, the commission seems to exercise its power in excess of proper limitations and in violation of individual freedom. But let me be clear: I am not talking about the ritual of Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice stated in the Qur’an which must be respected and followed by all Muslims, but about the unacceptable activities of the commission’s members.
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February:13:2012 - 19:30
My definition of moderate is a gradualist who is trying to become a fundalmentalist. They are the ones who say nothing but hold open the door for the more radicals to enter. However, I think the term moderate in Saudi is stretching it when applying the term Salafism.
I keep pinning my hopes on the secularist and liberal muslims. Well shall see if they just hold the door open for the moderates.
February:14:2012 - 00:28
@bigstick 1:
Well, to be quite fair the term “moderate” is relative. When proponents of Salafism label themselves as moderate, they are comparing themselves to the more fringe interpretation of Salafism as espoused by extremists like Bin Ladin and Al Zawahiri.
February:14:2012 - 01:32
Well, that is one way to look at it but I think I will hold with my view from my relative prespective.