Manama: The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice has faulted one of its patrols for the incident in which a girl was abused in front of a mall in the Saudi capital Riyadh.
“With reference to the reports and the video about the girl in Riyadh, an investigation committee was set up to look at the incident from all angles,” Mohammad Al Sebr, the spokesperson for the commission in Riyadh, said. “The investigation concluded that the girl had broken a rule that necessitated her arrest. However, the commission patrol did not comply with the regulations and directives with regard to arresting offenders, which led to the escalation of the situation,” he said, quoted by Saudi news site Al Marsad.
The commission took the required punitive action against its members involved in the incident according to the rules, he added.
“However, the commission affirms full compliance with all the regulations and rules in all its procedures, and does not tolerate abusing any rights, including those of its members,” Al Sebr said.
The abuse incident occurred on Sunday in front of Al Nakheel Mall in the Saudi capital and was caught on mobile cameras. It sparked nationwide outrage after clips were posted online, even though several media users defended the action of the commission members and blamed the girl.
On Tuesday, a security guard at the mall, giving his account of what happened, said that the commission was at fault and that he had to step in to rescue the girl fron further public abuse.
“They chased the girl for half an hour before she was made to fall on the ground where a part of her body was unveiled in public,” Mubarak Al Dossari said in his testimony posted online. “I was shocked to see the Commission member hold the girl violently in his attempt to arrest her, which prompted me to jump in and rescue her and put her on a school bus,” he said in the rare public criticism of the commission, prompting several social media users to form an online campaign to provide Al Dossari with tight security to ensure he is not attacked or harmed in any way.
The mall’s security and safety directorate said that it summoned Al Dossari to listen to his testimony and that it suspended him temporarily out of its concern for his safety until it secures him a position in another location.
One of the two girls who had the bitter standoff with the commission said they had been the victims of “blatant injustice.”
The girl who did not identify herself said that she was walking with her friend in front of the mall looking for a taxi when they were stopped by a commission patrol.
One of the men asked the two to cover their faces, but the girls initially resisted the order. However, they acquiesced when they saw the man getting off the car and approaching them, she said, Al Hayat daily reported.
“The commission member asked us if we were students or employees, and wanted to take us into the vehicle,” the girl said. “However, as we realised there was a] large number of commission members, we refused and insisted that they call our families. However, the commission member did not listen and he and others tried to pull us inside the van by force,” she said.
The girl managed to flee into the mall even though the Commission member was shouting to the guards to stop and apprehend her.
“They guards did not obey him and I was able to escape. My friend ran away towards the main avenue, and everybody saw on social media what happened to her. She was eventually kept away from the commission members and put on a bus that took her home. She was in a terrible state. The Commission took her bag and some of her belongings, but she managed to keep the mobile phone that they wanted to wrestle out of her hand,” she said.
According to reports in the Saudi capital, the two girls are planning to take legal action against the commission members for publicly abusing and humiliating them.
