Saudis Restrict Religious Police’s Powers
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RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – The Interior Ministry said it is taking measures to restrict the powers of the agency that runs the religious police, a force resented by many Saudis for interfering in their personal lives.
In a decree carried by the official Saudi Press Agency late Wednesday, Interior Minister Prince Nayef said members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice can still make arrests in cases like the harassment of women, but probes will now be conducted by the public prosecutors.
“The role of the commission … ends with the arrest of the suspect or suspects,” the decree, sent to provincial governors across the kingdom, said.
The morality squad has long enjoyed wide and unchallenged powers. Its members roam public places, such as malls, markets, and universities, looking for such infractions as unrelated men and women mingling in public, men skipping the five daily prayers, and women with strands of hair showing from under their veil.
