YANBU, 26 January 2008 — An official source at the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in Yanbu denied press reports that a commission official had beaten a police officer at a shopping mall, saying: “What happened was the opposite.”
The source, who requested anonymity, said the police officer attacked the commission official in order to defend his brother in law who had been sought by the commission for harassing girls in this industrial port city.
The incident took place when commission officials were trying to track down two young men who had allegedly obstructed the way of two girls who were walking through Yanbu’s Hanan Street.
Commission officials caught one of the two young men while the other had run away in his car.
The official said the security officer, who was in their team, had refused to track down the absconded man for being brother of his wife.
“After sometime, the police officer came with the young man and abused the commission officials. He also beat up a commission official who was sitting in his chair and also pushed him. This time, the official acted in defense of him against a person who had attacked him,” the source said.
The source said his office had sent a report about the incident to the commission’s office in Madinah, which in turn sent the same to the Madinah governor. The commission is pressing for taking legal action against the police officer.
