RIYADH, 5 June 2007 — A man, who died on Friday, possibly from a stress-related heart attack while in religious police custody, wasn’t breaking the law, according to Sheikh Sulaiman Al-Anzi, the head of the Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in Tabuk.
Al-Anzi said yesterday that it was determined after the arrest of 50-year-old Ahmed ibn Mussalam Al-Bulawi that the deceased was the driver of the family of the woman he picked up in his car, but he stopped short of admitting outright that the officers had made a mistake.
“It was not considered a state of illegal religious seclusion,” said Al-Anzi, referring to the being alone together of a man and woman who aren’t married or related under the Saudi law. “It was established that Al-Bulawi was known to the woman and her family when her brother came to pick her up at the center. He used to drive family members on errands.”
An investigation is currently taking place and five officers are reportedly being questioned for the death. The governorate of Tabuk and the General Investigation and Prosecution Authority (GIPA) are investigating the case. The arresting commission member is still on the job as the investigation takes place, according to Al-Anzi.
Tabuk Gov. Prince Fahd ibn Sultan has ordered that a monthly salary be paid to Al-Bulawi’s family from his own personal account, a source from the governorate told Arab News.
Al-Bulawi died on Friday as commission officers were processing his detention for picking up a woman at a local amusement park. The commission claims that the man collapsed at the center and was pronounced dead by the time he reached the hospital.
Al-Bulawi was believed to be a diabetic and suffered from high blood pressure. The deceased’s family is demanding that an autopsy be made to determine the cause of death and to make sure he was not subjected to any form of physical abuse while at the center that would have caused stress that resulted in his death.
Al-Anzi said that after officers learned about the deceased’s relationship to the family, the woman was released from police custody. When asked by Arab News if he believed the officers made a mistake, Al-Anzi declined to comment. He also would not say if he thought the officers bothered to question the relationship between the deceased and the woman before arresting them.
According to a directive last year by the Interior Ministry, the commission can only detain suspects and then pass them on to regular police for processing. Al-Anzi said that they didn’t pass the woman into police custody, opting to release her instead after discovering that the deceased had been a family driver.
“A person can only remain detained in a virtue center while the status of arrest is reported. This is in accordance with rules and regulations,” he said.
He also denied a report published in a local daily that the virtue commission member who made the initial arrest was working on a part time basis.
“The member was an employee of the commission who worked according to regulations. He was hired in 2003,” he said.
The deceased Al-Bulawi supported a family of 11 — five boys, six girls — as well as his spouse. According to reports, his debts were as high as SR50,000 and he lived in poverty. He was a retired border patrol guard who lived on a pension as well as extra cash he earned driving families on errands.
Al-Bulawi’s death in the custody of the virtue commission is the second such case to be reported in less than two weeks.
