A Saudi woman has claimed she was violently attacked and interrogated by staff members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (the Hai'a) here in a case of mistaken identity. She has registered her complaint with the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) branch in Madina. “I am still shocked at what happened. It happened suddenly and so fast,” M.N. Al-Shammari, the woman, said as she showed the reporter the place of the incident at Sultana Street. She said the Hai'a staffers did not give her any chance to explain. “I thought they were thieves trying to rob me and my uncle, but later I saw the Hai'a's emblem on a GMC car,” she said, insisting she would pursue the matter to its logical conclusion, especially after getting an assurance from Prince Abdul Aziz Bin Majed, Emir of Madina region, that he would follow up the issue. The Emir has commissioned the Bureau of Investigation and Proescution to look into the case. The woman's uncle, who was with her, said, “Five agents pulled the girl and the driver out of the car.” The incident happened on Friday. The woman and her uncle came from Yanbu via a SAPTCO bus to apply for a medical license at the Madina Commission for Health Specialties. “After we arrived we climbed into a taxi and asked him to drive us to the commission's headquarters. The driver was not really familiar with the location and we were driving around, when suddenly two cars that looked private (with no official sign) appeared and forced the taxi to stop,” the woman said. “Five men got out of the two cars, and another joined them, and attacked us while we were inside the taxi. I started screaming as I thought they were robbers. “One of them hit me, took off my hijab, put his hand on my mouth and threatened me. They all pulled us forcibly out of the car, and seconds later, a GMC car with the official Hai'a label arrived,” she said, adding that the agents tore her abaya and purse. “One of them screamed at me saying ‘where's your identification? Where are you coming from and why? And who is that man with you?' and he then checked my ID before finally verifying my statements.” “He said that the two cars were undercover Hai'a vehicles and that he'd take me to wherever I wanted to go and help me, and then he forcibly made me and my uncle hop into the GMC. On the way, they were apologizing by saying it was a mistake.” The woman claims that after the incident, the staffers provided her with a hotel room and gave her presents including SR500 “as catnip thinking that I would be silent about their assault and insults”. “I managed to find out the name of one of them and immediately complained to the Emir's Office who promised justice to me,” she said. Sheikh Sultan Al-Mutairi, the Hai'a's spokesman in Madina, was unavailable for comment. __
