A man here has accused the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (the Hai'a) of assaulting him and holding him illegally inside a restaurant on Sultana Street on Saturday because they found his trousers unacceptable. Muhammad Sultan said he had pulled over at the restaurant to buy breakfast for his wife and her mother, who were in the car, when a Hai'a member approached him and asked for identification “claiming that I was suspicious”, Sultan said. Spokesman for the Hai'a, Yaser Al-Matrafi, said the members only gave the man some advice based on their “observations”. Al-Matrafi claimed the man did not respond, verbally insulted them and threatened them. This is “why he was referred to Al-Oyoun Police Station after police patrols arrived”, the spokesman said. Sultan said that he refused to give the Hai'a staff his identification card until a police officer was present “for matters to be clear”. “When I started dialing the police, the Hai'a member and his colleague confined me in the restaurant and assaulted me in front of my family and the other customers.” Half an hour after that, Sultan said, one of the Hai'a staff called the police. Five officers arrived. “I gave an officer my identification and he asked the Hai'a member why I was held and the man replied that I was wearing trousers that are unacceptable. Everyone in the restaurant thought the trousers were normal and socially acceptable,” Sultan said. Sultan added that the police took him to the station at the insistence of the two Hai'a members. He said he was held at the station for four hours. The Hai'a interrogated his wife and mother-in-law to confirm “they were related to me”, Sultan said. He said he was shocked at the behavior of the Hai'a staff. He said he submitted a complaint at the police station and intends to file another one with the Emir's Office. The chief of Al-Oyoun Police Station, Muhammad Al-Subhi, said the station received the man's complaint and the Hai'a report on the incident. The case is now with the Bureau for Investigation and Prosecution.
