Mission & Justice

16/7/08

A Saudi lawyer said on Sunday he had filed an appeal against two members of the religious police over the death of a Saudi man last year. A court last November acquitted two employees of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice of killing Salman Al Huraisy last year after the morality squad raided his home and seized some alcohol. The same court this month upheld the ruling but the case will go to appeal, said Abdul Rahman Al Lahem, a leading human rights lawyer. Lahem said the appeal would rest on the United Nations Convention Against Torture, signed by Saudi Arabia in 1997. He also questioned the reasoning used by the judges in their definition of murder, which was based on their reading of Islamic sharia law.

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Abeer Mishkhas, 12/6/08

During a formal gathering for retirees from the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, the organization’s head said that he was worried that the new generation would hate the committee members. He gave as the reason for his concern the media’s constant coverage of mistakes made by commission members. He went on to say, “Everyone who works (for the commission) has enemies. The commission prevents people from succumbing to their desires and it is those same people who hate our work and look hard to find mistakes so that they can magnify them for the public.” The director also stated that he was demanding a 20 percent increase in the salaries of commission members in order to compensate them for the dangerous nature of their jobs. What we conclude from the director’s speech is that he considers anyone who points out a mistake or complains about an injustice perpetrated by the commission members to be an enemy of the establishment.

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Yusuf Muhammad; 15/5/08

Two members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice who were arrested in connection with the deaths of four people in an accident on Khaleel Road near Madinah were released yesterday, their lawyer said. “The two commission members were released on Wednesday after 36 days in detention as there is no legal basis to continue detaining them at the present stage of the case,” said Sultan ibn Zahim, the lawyer representing the two men. Earlier Zahim criticized the General Investigation and Prosecution Board (GIPB) for detaining his clients, claiming it violated clause 37 of the criminal procedures law that states that no one should be jailed without valid legal reasons.

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Raid Qusti; 1/5/08

The Philippine Embassy is trying to gain access to a Filipino nurse who 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 at a restaurant. Commission members arrested Abigail Valdez, a nurse who works at the Riyadh Military Hospital, on charges of “immorality.” Valdez is being held at Al-Malaz Prison. Philippine Ambassador Antonio P. Villamor told Arab News that he had sent officials from the embassy’s Assistance to Nationals Section (ANS) to the prison. According to Vice Consul Gerardo P. Abiog, who is in charge of ANS, the embassy was denied access.

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Muhammad Al-Homaid; 30/4/08

A lawyer representing two members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice denied that his clients had confessed to being involved in last month’s fatal accident that killed four people near Madinah. Nasir Al-Jabri was referring to Arabic language media reports that said commission members confessed to pursuing moral-crime suspects, which would be in violation of Interior Ministry rules regarding what commission members can and cannot do in the execution of their duties. “The report of evidences with the Investigation and Prosecution Board showed that the commission members’ car did not bear any mark of contact or collision with the ill-fated car,” said the lawyer.

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Raid Qusti; 28/4/08

An undercover Saudi intelligence officer filed an official complaint yesterday at the Governorate of Riyadh for allegedly being sworn at, humiliated and offended by members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice while he was accompanied by his friends at the Thumama desert area early Thursday morning.The officer alleges that he and his friends were accused of being “scum” as well as “not being brought up in a proper way” when he tried to interfere to prevent one of his colleagues from being beaten.

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24/4/08

Relatives of four people who died in an accident last month after two members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice chased their car said they would demand execution of the culprits who caused the accident, according to Al-Madinah daily. Authorities are questioning the two commission members and a policeman, who was also involved in the pursuit that led to the death of two men, a woman and the woman’s daughter. “I have already lodged a case at the General Court in Madinah demanding punishment of the culprits,” said Muhammad Khoj, whose son Omar was one of the four victims. The husband of the woman who died in the incident said he would also demand the execution of the culprits. He said his 17-year-old daughter had a mental collapse after learning of the deaths of her mother and sister.

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Raid Qusti; 23/4/08

Judges presiding over the retrial of two members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice charged with the murder of a bootlegger in May last year issued a court order yesterday summoning a police officer and a commission member, who took part in the raid to attend court. “The two remaining witnesses told judges that they would not attend the trial without a court order,” said Yahya Al-Huraisi, the attorney representing the family of the deceased, Salman Al-Huraisi, 28. Yahya said the two men are expected to provide details of what happened during the raid, adding that the defendants, A.A. and M.A., attended yesterday’s hearing without their attorney. Investigators from the General Investigation and Prosecution Board held the two men responsible for the death after months of investigations, which included collating testimonies from 18 commission members who participated in the raid and an autopsy report stating that Salman, who worked as a security guard, died as a result of a blow to the head, which fractured his skull.

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Mariam Al Hakeem, 20/4/08

As part of a damage control exercise, the religious police authority will provide intensive training to its field staff on behavioural skills. The General Presidency of the Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, also known as the religious police, announced plans to set up a specialised centre to provide training for its members who work in the field. Dr Ebrahim Al Howaimel, undersecretary at the presidency, announced this.

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