Ghaith, General President of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, has said the Commission has no powers to stop festivals or stop people enjoying themselves. Al-Ghaith said violations found by the Commission at Eid festivals in some parts of the Kingdom did not warrant canceling events, and that the Commission is not in a position to stop the festivals or deprive people of rejoicing on occasions like Eid. The Commission rules, he noted, strictly prevent Commission staff from pursuing suspects, the rules stipulating that the car registration number should be taken and reported to the relevant authorities. Al-Ghaith said he had no information concerning a recent incident in Riyadh caused by Commission members pursuing the occupant of another vehicle, and said, “I can neither deny nor confirm the incident,” adding: “Nonetheless it is nobody's right to chase others and cause danger. We have previously cautioned our members about this.” The matter, he said, would be looked into by the proper channels in the Commission. Confrontations The incident was another in a recent spate of controversial confrontations between members of the Commission and the public. In one such case, a man has recently asked authorities to punish Commission members after wrongly accusing his son of “khulwa” (being in the company of a non-related female) and arresting him. His son was subsequently cleared of all accusations by the General Investigation and Prosecution Bureau in Madina, after it was determined that the woman in whose company he was detained, was indeed his wife as he had claimed. The father has also called for the couple to receive compensation for the stress caused, describing the acts of Commission members as “character assassination”. They broke the rules, the father said, which prohibit them from chasing a suspect and determine that an incident should be reported to security authorities. The Commission has no powers of arrest. Imam accuses Commission In another development to the story, Al-Watan Arabic daily reports that the brother of the wife involved in the incident, who is also an Imam at a mosque in Madina, has asked authorities to charge one of the Commission members with “khulwa” on the grounds that he grabbed his sister by the arm. Ironically, Abu Omar, who works freelance for the Commission, said Commission President Sheikh Ibrahim Al-Ghaith had repeatedly warned against the active pursuit of suspects. “That they did this,” he said, “constitutes a blatant violation of the rules, and for which those involved should be held accountable for.” Another crucial question, Abu Omar noted, concerns the fleeing of the Commission patrol when the police arrived, rather than escorting the suspects to the police station to prevent any attempt by the suspects to substitute the girl for a family member as the Commission claimed. Instead, they left the scene, proof to Abu Omar of their guilt. Wife speaks The wife of the accused in the case has also recently spoken out. Speaking from her house her house in the Aziziyah District of Madina on Thursday, she said Commission members should be held accountable for their actions. Weeping as she spoke, she said: “After our return from a visit to relatives and while we were driving on the main street in Aziziyah District, we realized a vehicle was following us, flashing its headlights to get us to stop.” “My husband got suspicious and called the police to report the incident and he was told not to stop and proceed to the nearest police station, but as there was no police station close by, we drove to my family's house which was on the way and closer.” “They kept chasing us at high speed until they overtook us and suddenly stopped and blocked our path,” she said. Losing control of the car, the husband crashed into the Commission vehicle, and as his wife fought her way out of the wreckage she saw her husband being violently dragged out of the car and assaulted. Still wearing her niqab veil, the woman reached out for her purse and took out her perfume bottle to protect herself, she said. “I was too scared to even feel the injury in my head that I got when I hit the windshield,” she said. One of the Commission members came to her, she claimed, and deliberately stepped on her foot, while promising her a “discreet” arrest and release. Objecting to the treatment of his wife, the her husband could not escape the tight grip of the Commission members holding him. The scene stirred the curiosity of people on the street who approached to find out what was going on, only to hear one of the members shouting, “She was in “khulwa” with that man. Answering the earlier call for help made during the chase, the woman's brother arrived and fighting began, leaving him with a black eye and a nose bleed, according to the woman. When police reported to the scene, the members of the Commission had disappeared, she said. The family officially reported the incident at the police station with official papers demonstrating that they were a legally bonded couple. The woman rejected earlier claims from a Commission member that she had taken the place of another woman to save her husband, charging the Commission with fabricating accusations against them. – Okaz __
