JEDDAH, 10 January 2005 — In a move that moves the responsibility for the problems arising from the indiscriminate use of camera-phones away from the government, the ban on their sale in the Kingdom has been lifted. Their actual use is still restricted in certain places, however, shifting the responsibility for using the cameras to the owner and allowing institutions both private and government to decide whether their use will be allowed.
The move follows numerous cases of the phones being confiscated or destroyed and cases of irresponsible use reaching the press.
The Commission for the Prevention of Vice and the Promotion of Virtue already holds the position that it is not against camera phones on principle, but is only against their misuse.
“If we get a complaint that someone took pictures of people without their permission or used the camera for inappropriate pictures, then we confiscate the mobile or deface the camera lens and then file a police report because those who misuse it must bear the consequences of their act,” said a source at the commission.
Recently, a student at a girls’ high school in Jeddah attacked the school’s principal who caught her taking pictures of students and staff during a school celebration and smashed the mobile when she refused to delete the pictures.
According to Al-Madinah newspaper, the student verbally assaulted the principal, bruised her face, arms and legs, and broke her office fax machine and computer monitor. The student’s parents were called in and a police report was filed and the principal filed a complaint with the Education Administration.
“Mobiles of all kinds are not allowed in schools and bringing them is considered a violation of the second degree,” said a source at the Education Administration.
The disciplinary procedures for this violation is to warn the student the first time, then inform her parents and sign a paper, and the third time she is caught with a mobile she would be sent to a disciplinary committee which will determine her punishment and made to apologize in class for breaking the rules and transferred to another class as well as confiscate her mobile. These procedures apply to all public and private schools for boys and girls, all public educational institutions and special education schools under the Education Administration.
In a potentially divisive ruling, administrators and teachers in the schools have recently been allowed to bring their mobiles except those with cameras. Students however, are not allowed. “It hasn’t been made official yet,” said the source.
The rulings on mobiles and camera phones are not consistent among public colleges and universities regarding mobiles. The Girls’ College in Taif announced that all mobiles are forbidden inside the campus. Fayza, a student there, said it is inconvenient not to be allowed to use a mobile to call her home for someone to pick her up when she is done with her classes.
However, Dr. Ahlam, a professor there, said there are public phones readily accessible inside the campus and besides “some students forget to put their mobiles on silent mode during the lecture and all those ringtones are very disturbing.”
According to sources, security guards at the gates and inspectors inside the campus check the students’ bags and confiscate any mobiles.
King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah restricts only mobiles with cameras from getting in.
“The rule as it stands now is not to allow camera phones because they might be misused. We don’t know yet if that will change now that the ban on selling them has been lifted,” said a source at the student affairs office at the university.
She said most students comply with the rule but for those who bring camera phones, the first time they are given a warning and the mobile is taken from them and returned at the end of the day and made to sign an undertaking that they will in future obey the rule. The second time, her mobile is confiscated and returned at the end of the semester and her parents are informed and made to sign an undertaking. “No further punishment is given such as suspension unless she takes pictures,” said the source.
Administrators and teachers are also not supposed to bring in mobiles with cameras but several students say that they do and that is not fair. “I am against bringing in camera phones,” said Dr. Afaf, claiming as a defense that “we are much more mature and responsible and would not misuse them.”
At Um Al-Qura University in Makkah, some girls were caught taking pictures of their friends and professors. According to a source there, their case is before the university’s disciplinary committee which might expel them from the university.
Women’s health clubs are another place where there are clear signs saying that bringing in camera phones is strictly forbidden. Some threaten customers — quite illegally — with the destruction of their property.
“They took my mobile at the door and gave it to me when I left and told me that the next time I bring it they will smash it,” said Sarah about her experience at the gym she attends. “As long as I keep it in the locker they don’t bother me, but once I was making a phone call and the women around me checked if I was taking pictures,” said Nisreen.
