An investigation committee appointed by the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (Haia) has recommended penalties for several members who assaulted a citizen at a mall in Riyadh.

After a two-week probe, the committee recommended that the head and secretary of the Haia branch be removed from their positions. One would be demoted to work as an ordinary member and the other as an administrative assistant at one of the organization’s offices in the city, the committee stated.

The three Haia members who beat up the citizen would be transferred to do administrative work outside the province, according to the ruling of the committee.

Haia Chairman Abdullatif Al-Asheikh had ordered a probe into the incident after pictures of the battered and bloodied man, with a broken nose and jaw, went viral on Jan. 7.

The committee summoned all the parties and visited the mall where the attack took place, and examined the recordings of the surveillance cameras. The committee concluded that the Haia members and the young man had committed violations.

The report dated Jan. 19 said the young man had committed an offense at the mall that warranted action by the Haia men. The committee said this was backed up by the record of the arrest prepared by the Haia members.

There was further evidence found against the young man from the reports of the security personnel at the mall, the recordings of the surveillance cameras, and the statement of a worker who had witnessed the events that took place, the committee said.

The committee found that the Haia members had committed an offense by taking the young man to the commission’s office in the building instead of handing him over to the police.

The Haia members had committed another offense by checking the man’s mobile phone without the authority to do so. They also broke the law by beating the man even after he had been overpowered.

The Haia members were found guilty of disobeying an instruction from an official at the commission’s offices that the man be taken to a police station or released.

The report added that the committee was only concerned with the behavior of the Haia officials, while the violations of the man would be dealt with by law enforcement agencies.

An Arab News report on the incident earlier this month had quoted the victim’s brother as saying that the Haia members had asked him for his identity card at Othaim Mall in Naseem District in the eastern part of Riyadh.

When he said that he did not have it with him, the Haia members took him to one of their offices. At the office, they asked him for the personal identity number of his mobile phone, but he refused to comply, the brother said.

An argument then ensued between the young man and one Haia member who left the room and locked the door behind him. A few minutes later, the Haia member returned with four other members and they began beating him until he passed out, his brother alleged. The man was taken to Prince Muhammed bin Abdulaziz Hospital in Riyadh where medical tests showed he had bruises to his face and a broken nose and jaw.

The incident came less than a month after the Haia confirmed that three of its members had broken regulations by forcing 21 female students to get off a bus. The Haia had sanctioned the members.