The Commission for Investigation and Prosecution (CIP) has accused staffers here of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, the Hai'a, of assaulting a 20-year-old woman. Sources told Okaz that the investigation authorities have proven that the woman was beaten by the Hai'a staffers on April 4 this year. The woman's loud cries for help were heard by worshippers at a neighboring mosque. The worshippers called the police who arrived at the Hai'a offices and released the woman from custody. This new development comes a week after Prince Fahd Bin Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz, the Emir of Tabuk, had promised action in the matter and punishment for anyone found guilty of harming the woman. The sources said the investigating authorities report shows that “the woman had come from Jeddah to Tabuk to see her son and had met a man who was accompanying her child. She had asked him to give her a lift to the Saudi Arabian Public Transport Company (SAPTCO), but the man reported the matter to the Hai'a. The man had asked the Hai'a not to release his name and to also give him a financial reward for having the woman arrested. The report states that the man took the woman to a place assigned by the Hai'a. This was where she was allegedly forced to climb into a car which took her to the Hai'a headquarters where the beating took place. Saudi Gazette reported earlier this month that the woman had claimed that four Hai'a members tried to tie her legs, wanted to search her and tried to remove her veil. She claimed that four Hai'a members pushed her into a dark room where they abused her. She claimed that one of the members tried to strangle her. One of them also tried to remove her veil and uncover her face. She claimed that another member asked to search her but when she refused he allegedly slapped her in the face. This is when she started screaming and was heard by the worshippers.
