The Jizan Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (the Hai'a) arrested a group of young men Saturday for electronically sending out the photos of a newly married woman to her husband, who eventually divorced her for being involved in an old relationship. When the married woman resisted the demands of her ex-boyfriend to date her once again, he went ballistic and sent her photos to her husband and brothers. But it did not end there. The ex-boyfriend and his accomplices tried to kidnap the woman from in front of her house, but their attempt was immediately foiled by the Hai'a who were monitoring the house. The young men were all arrested. Obscene text messages to the woman, her husband, and her family were retrieved from the sent folder in the cell phones of the young men. “Blackmailing women with their photos and videos is a phenomenon on the rise,” said Abdulrahman Al-Madkhali, chief of the Jizan Hai'a. Explaining how the blackmailing business works, Al-Madkhali said, “Once a girl starts a new life as a married woman, the ghost of an old relationship keeps haunting her through threats of photos that she once willingly sent.” When she refuses the demands of her ex-boyfriend, the nightmare begins with threats of releasing previously recorded phone conversations, photos, and even videos, he added. If that does not get her to submit to the young man's demands, things get sent to her close relatives, and even go public online and via Bluetooth file exchange, he said, adding that “At that point, her social and married life are ruined.” The Hai'a has recently launched a campaign to receive complaints against blackmailers with promises to track them down.
