The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (Ha'ya) referred five cases of the sexual abuse of minors to court, said Sheikh Ahmad Al-Ghamdi, chief of the Ha'ya in Makkah. The five boys, all under 16, were sexually abused, and photographed by their assaulters. The kids were blackmailed by means of the photos every time they refused to give in to the whims of their assaulters. Other cases of sexual abuse of a similar nature never went to court at the request of the boys' guardians, who feared ‘public scandal for their sons,' he said. In those cases, the assaulter would sign a written vow not to blackmail the child again after handing over all photos and movie clips, he said. Okaz/SG __
