Saudi human rights society slams religious police

Riyadh: Saudi Arabia's Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (known as religious police outside the Kingdom), came under heavy criticism for its abuse of power from the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR).

"The commission has been exercising excessive powers that are actually not in its jurisdiction while carrying out its mission.

"The commission members are exceeding proper bounds in their handling of cases as well as in the arrest, interrogation and investigation of several people in various regions of the Kingdom," the society criticised in its annual report presented to the Shoura Council.

The society's report came at a time when there has been an unprecedented local media uproar and public resentment over the abuse of power by a section of the religious policemen.

The commission members act virtually as a police force of several thousand men charged with enforcing dress codes, sex segregation and the observance of prayers in the Kingdom.

They were most often accused of intimidating people and subjecting those, who were taken into custody for interrogation, into inhuman treatment and torture. There were a series of incidents of murder and torture with alleged involvement of its members last year in the Kingdom.

The last major incident involving religious policemen was the death of four people, including a young woman and her mother, in an accident allegedly caused by a religious police chase in Madinah in March 2008. As part of improving the image of the commission, King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz, replaced last month Shaikh Ebrahim Al Gaith, head of the commission, by Shaikh Abdul Aziz Bin Humaid.

The society, in its 100-page report, blamed the religious policemen for committing acts that are termed as gross violation of human rights of the members of the Saudi society.

"There were several complaints about the torture and even custodial deaths against the members of the commission. Some of these complaints reached courts in various regions of the Kingdom," the report pointed out.

The society also drew attention to the frequent press reports about the mishandling of individual cases by some members of the commission. "In such cases, the commission officials have resorted to blaming the media and playing down the reports as exaggerated ones.

"It has been confirmed that there were several cases in which the commission members had taken custody of many individuals and subjecting them to various sorts of interrogation and torture. In some cases, mobile phones of the detainees were snatched by the commission members and even denied permission to contact with family members,'' the report said.

The society listed a number of human rights violations committed by the commission members. These included using abusive language, checking of personal belongings, arrest of women without the company of blood relative, forcing to sign in minutes without allowing reading it, and using private vehicles to take those detained to the commission centers.

According to the society, the commission members often ignored the directives issued to them that their duty is only to take into custody of individuals and then hand them over to police for interrogation and other procedures.

The report cited several incidents that took place in violation of this directive. The society specified several incidents that took place in Riyadh, Tabuk, Madinah, Najran and Jeddah. There were five incidents of custodial deaths in Riyadh, Tabuk, Madinah and Jeddah.

In the report, the society advised the Presidency of the Commission to issue strict directives to its members not to repeat such violations. "The Presidency should issue work card for the members to specify their role and conduct periodical training courses to improve their efficiency besides taking measures to repair damage caused to the image of the commission,'' the report added.