NAJRAN, 15 January 2008 — Ahmad Ibn Joayad Al-Mukhles, 17, accused four members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice at Al-Arisa Center along with a security official of physically assaulting him.

Ahmad said that they hit his head against a car until he went unconscious before throwing him in the back seat. Then, he said, they took him to a Najran police station without giving him any medical aid.

“I was driving to the store with my little brothers when the Commission men stopped in my way. One of them said an indecent word to me so I ignored him,” said Ahmad while he was recuperating at King Khaled Hospital in Najran under guard. “Then they asked me to get out of the car and give them the keys, but I refused because I did nothing wrong. Then they started swearing and insulting me.” Afterward, according to Al-Mukhles, the men began beating him.

“When we got the news, we immediately went to the police station to find Ahmad in a very bad condition,” said Awad Joayad, Ahmad’s brother. “We took him to the hospital where his medical reports showed injures and bruises in his back, neck arms and hands. These virtue men gave up on promoting virtue to beat up a minor in front of his little brothers, unmercifully without reason,” he added.

The family says that a lawyer for the governmental Human Rights Commission, Hadi Al-Yami, has sent representatives to investigate the injuries. Joayad Al-Mukhles, Ahmad’s father, is calling on state officials and human rights representatives to fully investigate and prosecute the men he says beat his son without provocation.

“Even if my son had committed a crime there are other humane ways to punish him,” said Joayad. He doesn’t deserve what had happened to him.”

“The Virtue Commission will issue a statement to clarify the facts of the case,” said Ahmad Saleh Belhamer, general manager of the virtue commission center on behalf of Ahmad Al-Saady, public relations manager.

According to Lt. Badr Aldosary, the spokesman of Najran police station, the police authority will also issue a statement after hearing Ahmad’s testimony.