Manama: Saudi authorities have arrested a man who disguised himself as a woman to harass women sexually in the bathroom of a mosque.
The man, in his 30s, was detained following a complaint to the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, the religious police, that a woman occasionally entered the bathroom of a mosque in the Jaarana Mosque in the western city of Makkah and behaved oddly; sexually harassing the other women during the ablutions preceding the prayers.
A team from the commission tasked with identifying and arresting the man started monitoring the mosque until one day they saw a woman behaving suspiciously leave the building, local news site Sabq reported on Sunday.
They watched how she headed towards a car with tinted windows parked near the mosque and got in to the back. No male driver was standing the car.
The team approached the car and saw the man take off the woman’s clothes, prompting them to arrest him and to seize the abaya.
He was referred to the police station and an investigation was launched.
Online readers condemned the man for his peculiar behaviour and for taking advantage of the unsuspecting women at the mosque.
“Please sentence him to time in jail and to cleaning bathrooms so that he learns his lessons about how to behave properly,” Abu Tarek said in his comments.
Bu Mashari said that the man should be sent directly to military training.
“He should be taught how to help defend the country and protect the people, not abuse mosques to harass them,” he said.
Ahmad said that harassment was abominable.
“However, it becomes really repulsive and monstrous when it is inside a mosque facility and in Makkah.
“He should be severely punished for his horrible offences,” he said.
