The recent spate of young women being blackmailed by men for the return of private photographs and recordings has become the subject of conversation in every household. Increasing openness, an electronic culture and other changes in society have contributed to its proliferation, while a lack of awareness and punishments provide no deterrent to those tempted to harass and blackmail. Youths pursue females in public places and via technology, and deceive them into giving them personal photographs, and other times record telephone calls and use them as a source of money. The practice is most prolific on the Internet where open forums allow for contact between the sexes, and hackers can access any computer and download its contents. When incidents occur, it is essential to inform the relevant authorities, be it the police or the Hai'a who deal with such reports with the utmost discretion. Handsome man One lady fell into the trap of a harasser to the extent that she paid out SR200,000 and ended up in a mental hospital. M.A., 33, met a woman at a party who said she was seeking a suitable wife for her brother. She produced a photograph of a “handsome man” and obtained M.A.'s telephone number. After receiving repeated calls from an unknown number, M.A.'s curiosity got the better of her and she answered, discovering that the caller was the “promised husband”, who subsequently began to woo her with charming words, the like of which she'd “never heard before”. “He said he had fallen in love after hearing his sister's description of me,” M.A. said. The man said he would need some time to save up for the price of the dowry before making a formal marriage request to her family, and with the passage of time and their continued exchange of conversations, M.A. began to grow increasingly attached to her purported suitor. Eventually a date was set for their official engagement to be made, but come the day and her fiancé failed to appear, his telephone turned off. M.A. spent several days in a state of bewilderment and worry, until she received a telephone call from the man's sister saying that he had become embroiled in a case of bounced checks and faced jail if he failed to pay the money he owed. Following his release from jail on bail, he had one week to pay SR50,000. When he then called M.A. himself following his release, he sobbed down the telephone and apologized profusely for not appearing at their engagement ceremony, but added that he had inherited a plot of land from his father and required someone to act as his guarantor to enable him to sell it and pay off his debts. M.A. told him that she had SR10,000 in savings, and he responded by asking her to meet his sister at their house and give her the money, and that he would never forget her gesture. Shock of her life M.A. then went to the address she had been given, where she got “the shock of her life”. She was greeted by her fiancé-to-be who without hesitation told her that his “sister” was in fact his wife. He threatened her with a gun and told her to take off all her clothes, and then starting filming her with a video camera. He then threatened to post the images on the Internet. M.A. paid him the SR10,000, but he didn't stop there. Instead, his blackmailing continued for another three years, yielding from his victim sums amounting to SR200,000. M.A. entered a state of depression forcing her to be admitted to hospital for psychiatric treatment. She also became addicted to tranquilizers. Blackmailed by family M.A. is not the only lady to have suffered the social ills brought on the winds of globalization. Another girl, identified only as S.L., says she was also the victim of blackmail and rape from within her family when her stepfather's son entered her room one day when she was alone in the house. Her aggressor also took photographs of her naked and again threatened to put them on the Internet. S.L. says she ended up addicted to sleeping pills which she used to escape bitter reality, and her state of health subsequently deteriorated. She later informed her mother of what had happened, and underwent psychiatric treatment. N.F., however, was saved from the fates of the previous two victims by her judicious behavior. She became a victim of blackmail threats after taking her computer to be repaired and an employee at the shop obtained private pictures of her. She immediately informed her brother who intervened, resulting in the firing of the employee in question. Greater deterrents needed Commenting on such cases, former member of the Shoura Council Mohammed Aal Zulfa said a law was needed to provide a greater deterrent. “We also need to make women aware of how best they can deal with these sorts of situations and avoid becoming prey to people who engage in such activities,” Zulfa said. Mohammed Bin Yahya Al-Nujeimi, a specialist in Islamic Jurisprudence, believes the law as it stands should serve as a sufficient deterrent, and that families “need to understand the position of their girls that have become vulnerable to blackmail instead of punishing them, especially when the girl herself reveals to a family member the situation she is in.” Male bias “Unfortunately, in our society when young men make mistakes everyone takes their side, yet when it is the girl, she is condemned,” Al-Nujeimi said. “The blackmailing of girls is a crime that has been brought in from outside Saudi society,” said lawyer Fouzi Abdul Rahman Azhar. “It comes under honor crimes and matters of acceptable behavior which take on many forms, including slander, threats, and blackmail.”
