A few days back, in a candid interview with this newspaper, the national head of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, Ibrahim Al-Ghaith answered questions on a wide range of issues pertaining to his organization.
Al-Ghaith also attacked what he felt were deliberate Western media attempts to malign such a “noble institution” on the basis of the misdemeanors of a few of its members. One of his charges was that the Western media were intent on smearing the good work of the commission for unexplainable reasons.
Adding that Interior Minister Prince Naif had recently stated that the commission was not above making errors just like any other government institution, and as such it should not be the commission but the erring official who should be held accountable for any such infringements. Al-Ghaith said that the minister of interior would not tolerate attempts from any quarters to blow up the commission’s errors.
Just a day or two later, an incident in Riyadh reported in this newspaper should have given Al-Ghaith some ideas as to why the world’s press often picks up on the allegedly nefarious activities of some of the members of the commission.
In that particular incident, a Filipino nurse was arrested by members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice on Monday evening for being with a male colleague out in public at a restaurant and taken to prison. According to the Philippine Embassy, officials from the embassy’s Assistance to Nationals Section (ANS) were dispatched to the prison to render assistance, but were denied access to her while in detention.
Her companion, a Western male was also arrested and dragged off to the commission’s offices. According to him, his feet were shackled as if he were a vicious criminal, and he was dragged off and out of the restaurant by his belt and into a waiting vehicle, without being shown any identity card or an opportunity to contact a lawyer. Their crime was the violation of the “khulwa” laws that bar an unrelated man and woman being in a secluded place.
Now anywhere in the Western world, a person enjoying a meal with his companion regardless of sex and in a public place would be seen as harmless, so long as no amorous activities were on public display. So when the Western media pick up on the manner of such arrests, they are naturally aghast at what they perceive to be draconian attempts to enforce the Kingdom’s laws.
Shackles and denial of access to those imprisoned do not do any justice to the image of the commission, which has been suffering from increased negative perceptions from the Saudi public lately due to the reported unrestrained activities of some of its members. Neither does it do justice to them in the world press, who picks up on such transgressions and plaster them over their pages.
And in one dramatic or extreme interpretation of the “khulwa” law, a zealous commission member would not be faulted for arresting our wives or daughters if they were caught alone in a car with the unrelated family driver. Can you imagine the havoc that would create?
A far more palatable scenario in this instance would have been for one of the commission members to quietly approach the couple and ask to speak to the gentleman outside and away from the rest of the restaurant patrons. There, he should have politely explained to him the local laws, and requested that they finish their meal and depart.
End of the story, end of the drama. And guess what? No outrage or offended feelings. Not a peep on any media waves. Unfortunately, that was not to be, and the commission was back in bad light. It was all in the approach.
I do not believe there is any concerted campaign by the Western media or any other for that matter to discredit this organization. The actions of some of its members are what bring it into notice and disrepute.
Following earlier reports of the commission’s indiscretions that have been widely reported in the Western media, it does not take much of an incident to make up a front-page story. It is only when all officials of the commission are held accountable for any action that violates the statutes of this organization that the Western media would lose all interest in their activities.
