RIYADH: The Ministry of Interior (MoI) disclosed here on Thursday that as many as 149 persons were handed over last year to the concerned authorities for browsing or publishing pornographic material related to children.

In its official Twitter account, the MoI said that authorities received last year 912 reports from international police contacts for crimes relating to such violations.

The disclosure was made by MoI on its official Twitter account during its participation in the first conference on computer-related crimes hosted by Imam Mohammad bin Saud Islamic University (IMSIU) that concluded on Thursday.

According to the ministry, the anti-IT crimes body at Public Security is responsible for arresting violators of such crimes and prosecuting them. The department deals with offenses based on the sixth and eighth articles of the Anti-Cybercrime Law in the country.

The conference communiqué issued later stressed the need to educate all segments of society on cybercrime and to report such crimes. They also recommended opening a door for partnership and cooperation with local and international bodies in combating IT crimes.

Reading the recommendation, Dean of the Faculty of Computer Science and Information at IMSIU Dr. Essa bin Abdullah Al-Essa said that the forum also asked for legal procedures to hold parents accountable in the event of their failure to monitor their children, and to develop a set for procedural evidence and the investigation of IT crimes.

They also stressed the need to create educational and technical programs to protect young children from the risk of IT-related crimes, and urge governmental and private entities on the need for a safety of electronic transactions in accordance with specific national standards.

The conference also sought to identify those responsible for the protection of IT infrastructures in coordination with both government and private bodies, and to support educational institutions to train students and professionals in information security techniques and methods of combating IT crimes.