Madinah Commission Members Save Girl From Unemployed Man

MADINAH, 7 July 2007 — Members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice successfully saved a female university student from the clutches of an unemployed Saudi man, who was threatening to ruin her reputation by distributing pictures of her to her relatives.

According to commission members, the girl, who lives in a village close to Madinah, had never met the man but was speaking to him over the telephone for over a year. The girl, who is engaged and planning to get married, wanted to put an end to this telephonic relationship with the man, who threatened to tell her fiancé and family about her calls to him if she did not continue the relationship.

The student contacted a commission center in Madinah’s Al-Jurf area asking for help and told the commission members about the one-year phone relationship and how the man, now knowing that she is getting married, is asking her to come to his village to meet him.

The man had threatened to expose her pictures over the Internet if she did not comply.

“We have seen many such cases of men taking advantage of women, especially those that come from poor backgrounds,” said a commission spokesman. He added, “Most girls want to escape their poor situation by getting involved in relationships with men over the phone but at the end of the day they fall victim to these men when they try to end the relationship.”

Commission members instructed the girl to arrange a date with the man in Madinah. When the man showed up, commission members moved in and arrested him. They also found in his possession pictures of the girl and her family, which he was using to blackmail the girl. The man was in his early 20s.

Saeed Al-Faydi, head of Al-Jurf’s commission branch, said that the case was treated in confidence and that the girl’s identity was not revealed or recorded. “Girls need to be careful and not put their reputation in danger by conducting such relationships. The man was handed to police custody and will later appear in front of a judge for sentencing,” said Al-Faydi.