Aisha Jamal Saudi Gazette JEDDAH – The Administrative Court here on Monday arraigned a member of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (the Hai'a) for beating up a young man and removing his thobe during an attempt to arrest him. The young man, a university student, claimed that the Hai'a member forcibly removed his thobe during the assault, inflicting serious injuries on him. The Hai'a member said the young man escaped while he and three of his colleagues were trying to subdue him and went to the police station to lodge a complaint against them. A second defendant, also a Hai'a member, told the court that the regulations allow commission members to use force to arrest people who break the law and disturb peace. The presiding judge confronted the second defendant with medical reports and witness testimonies. The young man, a secondary school graduate who got enrolled in university recently, said he abstained from the previous court session but the judge warned him that he would be summoned by force. The first defendant said he and his colleague had spotted the young man in Al-Jamea district of Jeddah harassing girls and blaring his car stereo. He said they tried to convince him to stop what he was doing, but the young man ignored them and escaped. The Hai'a members spotted the young man behaving in the same manner a second time. When he failed to heed their advice, they tried to arrest him but he put up resistance. The Hai'a member told the judge that the youth himself removed his thobe and was blaming it on them.
