Three moral policemen held in Saudi man's death

Riyadh: The Riyadh police have arrested three members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, also known as the muttawa (moral police), for beating to death a married Saudi youth.

Police sources said the three men stormed the house of the victim located in the capital's western suburb of Al Oraija last week on suspicion of alcohol trafficking.

The three men clashed with the young man who received several injuries, was rushed to hospital but died later of bleeding from the eye, the police sources added.

"Investigations are still going on to examine the case and the circumstances surrounding it," Major Sami Al Shuwarekh, the spokesman of the Riyadh Police said in statements yesterday.

House stormed

For his part, Ali Al Huraisy alleged that his 28-year-old brother Salman, who is married and has an 8-year old son, died of his wounds because he was severely beaten by the muttawa. He underlined that members of the religious police took his bleeding brother to their centre where he died of his wounds.

"A muttawa squad stormed our family house located in Oraija district last Wednesday. They broke the house's doors and arrested my brother Salman and a number of other family members including women. My brother was beaten severely in front of his father and then taken to the muttawa centre where he died," the victim's brother pointed out.

In a related development, a Saudi woman who complained of being insulted along with her daughter by two muttawa members, filed a lawsuit before the Grievance Board, her lawyer said.

Abdul Rahman Al Lahem, the woman's lawyer, said his client filed a case against the two men at Riyadh court few years ago, but a ruling was issued not to hold the men responsible because they belong to the muttawa.