NAJRAN, 21 January 2008 — Secondary school student Ahmad Al-Mukhlis, who accused members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in Najran of beating him up and causing him serious injuries more than a week ago, is still recuperating from the injuries at King Khaled Hospital in Najran.
Meanwhile, Ahmad Belhamer, the Commission’s director in Arisa, Najran, has issued a statement claiming that the agents acted in self-defense after the teenager attacked them and a uniformed police officer with a sharp object.
Belhamer said that the boy confronted the men over a violation supposedly committed by his brother. “It should also be noted that the youth was once arrested in the past by the Commission for indecent behavior in front of the local girls’ school,” he said. “On that occasion the Commission took an undertaking from him to the effect that he would not repeat his improper behavior and allowed him to go with his older brother Awad.”
The director said the older brother had committed some kind of offense and also had promised not to repeat the offense. Belhamer did not provide further details, but it is common for the Commission to release people after they sign pledges not to repeat minor transgressions, such as verbally harassing women.
The director pointed out that the father of the two brothers, Juaed Al-Mukhlis, was detained for 24 hours on a previous occasion for repeatedly violating certain religious regulations. But the statement did not specify the nature of the alleged moral violation.
The director said Juaed and his relatives attempted to secure the release of Ahmad after his arrest to avoid any further legal measures. “It should also be noted that the news of the Commission mistreating the youth was given to the press only after the family failed in their attempt to bail out the youth,” Belhamer said.
He also blamed the newspapers, which published the news, for unleashing a campaign against the Commission on the basis of false allegations. He called on the media to be objective and ascertain the facts while reporting.
Arab News reported the incident on Tuesday. When this reporter contacted Belhamer to get the Commission’s reply to the claims made by the boy’s father, he only said that he would “issue a statement to clarify the facts of the case.”
A statement issued by the Najran police yesterday gave more details into the incident. “At 8:50 p.m. on Saturday (Jan. 12), the Commission’s patrol in Arisa handed to the local police a secondary school student named Ahmad Al-Mukhlis, 17, on the charge of injuring a police man, who was accompanying the Commission, on his right hand.”
Commission members are often provided police escorts. Last year the Commission was barred from detaining suspects at their own facilities and is required by orders of the Interior Ministry to hand suspects over to police.
