JEDDAH, 25 May 2006 — Interior Minister Prince Naif yesterday curbed the powers of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in handling issues such as harassment of women. Such cases have now been brought under the Commission for Investigation and General Prosecution, the Saudi Press Agency said.
“The Commission for Investigation has been given the charge to carry out probes in such cases,” the prince said in a directive to governors, adding that the measure was taken in line with the requirements of the penal code. The role of the virtue commission will be restricted to arresting suspects and handing them over to police.
Security authorities will later hand such suspects over to the Commission for Investigation with their report. “The missions of all committees set up under the regional governorates (for investigation purpose) have been transferred to the Commission for Investigation,” the directive said. A copy of the directive has been dispatched to all governors and heads of both commissions, the agency said.
There were complaints from the public about the behavior of some of the religious body’s members. Commission members caught Ahmad Ali Abu Dabous recently in a Madinah shopping center for allegedly harassing and following women. Abu Dabous denied the allegation and said he was in the market to shop for some clothes.
“The decision to hand in people arrested to police rather than facing a commission interrogation is a good decision. The police are responsible for investigating suspects,” said Abu Dabous.
He said he was stopped because he is single and that there was neither proof of wrongdoing nor any complaint. He said he was with the commission members at the center for six hours before he signed something not to repeat his behavior.
“The new decision will make the process more professional,” added Abu Dabous. “Police who know how to handle the situation will take over when the arrest is made because they are the authorized department that should make the investigation.”
Abu Omar said that the decision would put more coordination between the commission members and police. He said in the past there were many mistakes committed by the commission after arresting people because the commission is a religious organization not a police department.
