The president of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, Sheikh Ibrahim Al-Ghaith, disputed yesterday the findings of the first human rights report by the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) regarding alleged violations by his organization. In its report, the NSHR had said that commission members confiscated mobiles from those it detained and also pressured people to sign confessions in order to be released.
Al-Ghaith said that a commission member would not confiscate mobiles since they often contain personal and private information such as the names and phone numbers of family members. “That would be a religious and criminal offense,” he told Arab News. “Mobiles are only confiscated if they are part of the criminal offense.” He did not comment on the alleged forced confessions which the report mentioned.
He did say, however, that the request by the NSHR to rewrite Article 14 of the commissionÂ’s law would be studied. The rights body said the article is too broad and is thus open to misinterpretation.
Al-Ghaith said: “Just because the society (NSHR) requested that the article be changed does not necessarily mean we have to do so but we will study the matter. If we see that changing the article is for the best, then we will proceed.”
Speaking to the media after an emergency meeting with commission heads from the Kingdom’s 13 regions, Al-Ghaith said that the meeting was meant to “activate and not dilute” the efforts of the commission.
He denied that four Riyadh commission members had been fired for mishandling the case of Sulaiman Al-Huraisi, a Saudi citizen who died in commission custody two weeks ago when members who suspected alcohol was being consumed in his home raided his apartment.
Referring to two other cases involving alleged commission errors and wrongdoing in Riyadh and Tabuk, Al-Ghaith said: “Both cases are still under investigation.” He announced that the commission had hired a spokesman for the body at its headquarters. The spokesman is Ahmed Al-Jardan, a former public relations manager. Al-Ghaith also noted that every commission head in the Kingdom’s different regions is empowered to act as a spokesperson for the commission in his region.
He also announced that the commission had established a legal department to be known as the “Department of Rules and Regulations.” The new department is for consultation by commission members if they are unsure of something or need legal advice.
He said that commission members had no duties beyond apprehending suspects and recording alleged offenses. “We continue to work according to the regulations which specify that our work is only detention and the recording of offenses.”
Al-Ghaith denied reports in some local newspapers that the commission had hired employees who had criminal records. “We check on every person we hire from the day he was born up to the present. No one with a criminal background is hired,” he asserted. He went on to say that the commission had nothing to hide and “worked in the bright light of the sun.”
Concerning the name tags which are mandatory for commission members in the field, Al-Ghaith said that any citizen or resident has the right to complain against a member if the member does not wear a name tag when questioning someone. “The commission member in such a case would be considered a violator. We have made it clear that all field members must clearly display their name tags on their shoulders,” he said.
Al-Ghaith denied earlier media reports concerning a religious fatwa which forbids the trial of a commission member in a religious court.
He said: “There is a fatwa by Sheikh Muhammad Al-Ibrahim (the late Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia) which states that a virtue member does not need witnesses when he testifies. This fatwa has obviously been misinterpreted by people in the press to mean that a commission member is not bound by the law. This is untrue. The commission member is a government employee and if he violates the law, he is subject to punishment.”