RIYADH/JEDDAH, 30 May — Ibrahim Al-Ghaith, president of the Commission for Promoting Virtue and Preventing Vice in Riyadh, has urged authorities to prevent marketing of mobile phones equipped with cameras, saying wicked people might misuse the device.
Al-Gaith’s statement came after the device became widely popular among young Saudis and with companies’ plans to import this new variety of phone.
Al-Gaith said he had sent messages to higher authorities about the controversial device but ruled out confiscating them before conducting a comprehensive study.
Arab News toured the telecom market in Riyadh and found the phones, which can be used to take more than 280 digital photos, on sale to the public for about SR1,700.
The Commerce Ministry in coordination with the Ministry of PTT is investigating the legality of the new device after complaints that they were used secretly to take photos of women.
Abdul Aalee Al-Abdul Aalee, director of the department to combat commercial fraud at the Commerce Ministry, told Arab News that his department would take action against those misusing the device.
Adel Fareed, director of distribution at Saudi Ericsson, told Arab News that the new mobiles distributed by his company were approved by the Saudi Arabian Standards Organization (SASO).
“We started distributing the device two months ago and there was good response,” Fareed said.
Mustafa Al-Hussein, regional director of Mashael Al-Khaleej for Electronics, agents of Nokia, said his company imported all equipment with Commerce Ministry permission.
“We are not responsible for the misuse of equipment by some wicked people,” he said, adding that the new mobile-camera phones were very useful.
Muhammad ibn Abdullah Al-Humaidan, owner of a wedding hall in Jubail, said the new device would discourage women from attending marriage ceremonies and called for banning the device to avoid such a situation.
However, Dr. Ahmad Al-Sinani, a Saudi writer, said that the device must be allowed onto the market. “Of course it may be misused by some wicked people but they are very small in number. We should not exaggerate things. By creating awareness among public we can reduce the impact of the equipment’s potential misuse,” he added.
“We had similar concerns before when ordinary phones, mobiles, the Internet and satellite channels were first introduced to the Kingdom. These concerns faded away with the growing awareness among our people,” he explained.
Saudi authorities recently seized a large quantity of mobile phones made in Israel. The phones and accessories were shipped into the Kingdom via Poland. The customs department seized the goods and was preparing legal action against the company which imported the equipment.
