[An Nahar] Soddy Arabia...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in their national face...
will curb the powers of its notorious
"The new system will set a mechanism for the field work of the committee's men which hands over some of their specializations to other state bodies, such as arrests and interrogations," Al-Hayat daily quoted
Agents of the body known as the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice will also be banned from carrying out "searches without prior approval from the governor," he said.
Okaz daily also reported that the
Relatively moderate Sheikh, appointed in January as the new chief of the
Two weeks into his post, Sheikh banned volunteers from serving in the commission which enforces the kingdom's strict Islamic rules.
In April he went further, prohibiting the
In June, Sheikh came out strongly against one of his men who ordered a woman to leave a mall because she was wearing nail polish.
The woman had defied the orders as she filmed her argument with the policeman and posted it on YouTube.
The kingdom's