Saudi Religious Police Make Gloveless Woman Leave Shopping Mall

Saudi's Ultra-strict Religious Police Join Twitter – Despite JAILING Others for Using Site

The religious police have more than 65,000 followers

DAILY EXPRESS: SAUDI Arabia's religious police have joined Twitter, despite jailing others for using the site.

The notorious group, tasked with enforcing sharia law in the country, have already racked up more than 65,000 followers.

Their first tweet asked "Allah to benefit everyone" and was retweeted 20,000 times.

In 2014 they closed over 10,000 Twitter accounts because "users were committing religious and ethical violations".

A spokesman claimed that IT-related crimes could see people jailed for five years and fined £500,000.

In 2013 the head of the police claimed that anyone using social media "has lost this world and the afterlife".

Sheikh Abdul Aziz al-Sheikh has also blasted the site as "a source of lies and falsehood". » | Tom Parfitt | Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Valentine’s Day Is Banned by the Religious Police in Saudi Arabia

THE JOURNAL: But people still buy chocolates and roses in secret.

RED ROSES LURK hidden in flower shop back rooms and heart-shaped chocolates are sold under the counter, but Saudis still manage to buy Valentine’s gifts and defy the religious police.

Florist Hussein came up with a simple solution to a ban on red tokens of love: he filled his window with white roses, orange irises and violet hydrangeas.

“I’ve hidden everything red in the shop, so when a religious police patrol comes along, they find nothing to complain about,” he said.

Anti-Valentine’s Day patrols by the Muttawa religious police, formally known as the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, started on Wednesday.

They began entering premises stocking chocolates, flowers and souvenirs to warn proprietors against selling anything red or heart-shaped and linked to the annual “infidel celebration” of matters romantic. » | © AFP | Friday, February 14, 2014

Saudi Men Arrested for Offering Free Hugs in Riyadh

BBC: Two men have been arrested in Saudi Arabia for offering free hugs to passers-by in the capital, Riyadh.

The Saudi religious police detained the two young men for indulging in exotic practices and offending public order.

The free hugs movement aims to "brighten up" people's lives by offering strangers hugs.

A young Saudi man, Bandr al-Swed, posted a video of himself offering hugs to male strangers on YouTube, where it has received nearly 1.5m views.

"After seeing the Free Hugs Campaign in many different countries, I decided to do it in my own country," Mr Swed told al-Arabiya news [sic].

"I liked the idea and thought it could bring happiness to Saudi Arabia."

Britain's Independent newspaper reports that his video inspired two more young Saudis, Abdulrahman al-Khayyal and a friend.

They offered hugs, advertised on a placard, in one of Riyadh's main shopping streets. » | Thursday, November 21, 2013

Saudi Head of Religious Police Criticises Agents for Handling of 'Nail Polish' Row
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The head of the Saudi religious police has criticised agents for clamping down on a woman who was wearing nail polish, after the video went viral, attracting more than a million hits on YouTube.

The three minute video posted on May 23 shows members of the religious police telling the woman to "get out" of a shopping mall. But she refuses to comply, saying "I'm staying and I want to know what you're going to do about."

In an interview with the daily newspaper al-Watan, Sheikh Abdullatiff Abdel Aziz al-Sheikh, said: "The world is manufacturing airplanes and we are still telling a woman 'leave the mall because you've got nail polish on your fingers'."

“I was very disappointed by what I have seen. The matter has been exaggerated and negatively exploited,” Sheikh Abdullatiff, head of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, later told the AFP news agency.

“The way the member of the commission behaved was not right, even if the girl had gone too far. He should have offered her advice and left instead of arguing with her and escalating [the matter]."

The video has been viewed more than one million times, but her behaviour attracted scores of negative comments online.

One posting said she had "no shame" and accused her of "prostituting" herself. Another called her a "slut" and a "whore." » | Thursday, June 07, 2012


Related »

Saudi Woman Makes a Stand against Feared Religious Police

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A YouTube video of a Saudi woman defying orders by the notorious religious police to leave a shopping centre because she is wearing nail polish has gone viral, attracting more than a million hits in just five days but thousands of negative comments.

The three and a half minute video posted on May 23 shows members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice telling the women to "get out of here"[.]

But she refuses to comply, saying: "I'm staying and I want to know what you're going to do about."

"It's none of your business if I wear nail polish," the unidentified woman, who is not seen on tape, is heard shouting at bearded men from the feared religious force.

"You are not in charge of me," she defiantly shouts back, referring to new constraints imposed earlier this year on the religious police banning them from harassing Saudi women over their behaviour and attire.

"The government has banned you from coming after us," she told the men, adding "you are only supposed to provide advice, and nothing more". » | Monday, May 28, 2012

Saudi Journalist and TV Host Nadin Al-Badir Calls the Saudi Religious Police the "Enemy of Society" and Says: Most of Them Are Ex-Cons Who are "Violently Extreme"

Muttawaeen Accused of Responsibility for Death of Man in Custody
BBC: Five members of the Saudi religious police, the Mutawaeen, have been arrested accused of being responsible for the death of a man in custody.

The man died at a Mutawaeen office in Tabuk, the Saudi authorities say.

Officials said the man had been questioned for allegedly associating with a woman who was not a relative. Saudis hold five religious police (more)

Mark Alexander

Muttawa Alleged to Have Beaten Saudi to Death
KUWAIT TIMES: RIYADH: Police in the Saudi capital Riyadh are probing the alleged beating to death of a man by religious police, who are in charge of enforcing a strict Islamic moral code, a newspaper reported yesterday. An investigation is under way into the circumstances of the death of Salman Al-Huraisi, 28, in one of the offices of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, Riyadh police spokesman Major Sami Al-Shuwairekh told Al-Watan. Huraisi's brother, Ali, said Salman was badly beaten by members of the religious police, commonly known as Mutawwa, when they raided the family's home in Riyadh on Wednesday night. Mutawwa probed for alleged fatal beating (more)

Mark Alexander