JEDDAH/MADINAH: The local branch of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice denied yesterday that commission members had dragged a woman out of a women-only professional training center by her hair.
Spokesman Yasir Al-Matrafi played down the incident that took place on Tuesday where commission members arrested a man and returned a woman to her family after they were seen together in a vehicle in a state of khulwa (illegal seclusion of an unrelated man and woman).
“The case that occurred next to the women-only center is a case of khulwa between a young man and a girl,” said the statement.
“The arrested (man) was transferred to Al-Oyoun police while the girl was handed in to her family.”
The commission said what was reported in the local newspapers was “untrue” and accused a man named Hamid Abid of obstructing justice and making false statements to the press.
Abid is the husband of one of the women who was in the center when the incident took place.
The commission claims that Abid did not obey orders to stop interfering with the work of the commission. He was not arrested, but he was reported to the Al-Oyoun police station for investigation.
The commission did not describe the nature of Abid’s alleged interference.
Abid’s wife Nisrin, who was in the center at the time working on her English-language skills, called her husband after the ruckus started. Abid told Arab News yesterday that after he arrived, he “politely” told a commission member that entering a women-only area is not acceptable. He said he would pursue his rights in this case.
Nisrin explained how they were terrified at the center. She said some women fell unconscious when a commission member chased the khulwa suspect into the women-only center.
Abid said the commission members overreacted and since the crime was not extreme, they should have called in women security to enter the center.
He called on authorities to take necessary action to protect the rights of women, which he said were infringed upon by the incident. He accused the commission of making false statements in its defense.
The commission claims that the head of the women’s professional training center, Muhammad Al-Ghanmi, has been cited incorrectly in the press, without giving details.
Arab News attempted to contact Al-Ghanmi but he was not available to make comments.
According to a report published on Wednesday the commission said they went to the center after taking the permission from the head of the commission, something that Abid says he doubts since the incident happened so quickly.
The manager of the women’s section of the center, Manal Abu Al-Nasar, told Arab News on Wednesday that the center would take action against this incursion into a women-only section by a man.
The Investigation and Prosecution Board is looking into the case.
