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trims powers of morality police By Andrew Hammond
RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia said on Wednesday it had taken measures to limit the power of controversial religious police who hardline clerics say make society more moral but many accuse of interfering in people's lives.
Interior Minister Prince Nayef decreed that public prosecutors would deal with all cases concerning "harassment", stopping the ultraconservative kingdom's unique morality squad from detaining suspects for hours, the state media said.
"The role of the 'authority for the promotion of virtue and prevention of vice' ends with apprehending suspected individuals and handing them to the police, who then present them to prosecutors with a report of the incident involved," it said.
The religious police have wide powers in Saudi Arabia, which imposes a strict version of Sunni Islam, to prevent the spread of drugs, alcohol and prostitution as well as unrelated men and women mixing in public.
But a number of cases in recent years have drawn attention to overzealous behavior that provoked rare public criticism in newspapers of the organization, which hardline clerics say is a central element of their Islamic state.
In 2002 at least 14 schoolgirls burned to death after the religious police prevented men who were not relatives from entering the building to rescue them.
The squad is known to hold people in incommunicado. In some cases they have forcibly cut men's hair for being in their view too long.
Some Shi'ites say members of the organization sometimes detain members of the minority group until they sign documents renouncing their faith, which the Sunni Wahhabi school of Islam regards as heretical.
Earlier this month the head of the organization announced that members would for the first time be obliged to carry identity cards. That came after newspaper reports of ordinary Saudis staging violent attacks on some religious policemen.
Prince Nayef, a strong supporter of the organization and one of the most powerful royals, has rejected calls to dismantle the force.
Posts: 1223 | From: Home | Registered: Feb 2005
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All countries with religious police should be doing this too, muslim or not. I believe Indonesia also has strict religious police.
People should be free to practice their faith as they wish. It is not for the state(regardless of country) to force people to practice their faith properly. The day of judgement exists for a reason. What's the point of that if your country forces you to do it anyway for your entire life? Unfortunately though we have to respect a country's laws....it's just ashame that I have to respect saudi's foolish law of forcing non-muslims to practice ramadan in public. That really is messed-up, in my view.
Posts: 61 | From: England | Registered: May 2006
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