Video - Former Top Saudi Religious Police Official Appears on TV with His Unveiled Wife

Saudi Sheik Ahmed Al-Ghamdi, former head of the Mecca chapter of the Authority for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, appeared on Saudi MBC TV on December 12 with his unveiled wife, Jawaher bint Al-Sheikh Ali, and stated that the veil was obligatory only for the Prophet Muhammad's wives. Sheik Al-Ghmadi made headlines recently when he stated that women may reveal their faces and wear makeup in public.

Saudi religious police banned from spying.

Saudi religious police banned from spying. (Taz).

Members of the Saudi religious police, officially known as the Commission for Promotion of Virtues and Prevention of Vice, have been barred from spying on people or chasing suspects, Al Arabiya reported.

Sheikh Abdulaziz al-Asheikh, president of the commission, also warned the police members working in the field against displaying any signs of extremism or religious fanaticism. He was talking during a visit to the police headquarters here Sunday by Riyadh Emire Prince Turki Bin Abdullah.

According to local daily Al-Watan, al-Asheikh said there were six "nos" religious police members should stay away from: Spying, extremism, fanaticism, authoritarianism, harming people and chasing suspects. 

He said the force is applying rules and regulations equally among all citizens and residents without any distinction.

Al-Asheikh said the members have been instructed never to abuse any man or woman. They should always be lenient and nice to everyone. "No one should be falsely accused or deliberately harassed. The members should not resort to devious means just to incriminate the others," he said.

The religious police has 12 branch offices, 129 sub-commissions and 345 centers scattered all over the Kingdom.

Al-Asheikh noted a remarkable rise in blackmailing cases where some men threaten women to scandalize them using their photos if they did not acquiesce to their illegitimate desires. "We received 729 complaints from women accusing men of trying to blackmail them during the past two months including 120 in Riyadh alone," he said.

The religious police chief called for stringent laws to punish the blackmailers whom he described as "sick people" who are trying to dominate and enslave women.

He advised the families to take good care of their girls and not to leave them fall prey to "human wolves".
Al-Asheikh revealed that the force has established a special office to combat sorcery and talisman and said in a matter of few weeks the office received 586 complaints against sorcerers. "We have caught 51 of them and destroyed more than 2,200 talisman works," he said.

Al-Asheikh also said the force has dealt with 762 cases of pervert sexual behavior, 2,607 alcohol cases and shut down 750 alcohol breweries in the Southern Province.

He said on request by the force, the concerned security authorities have blocked 24,508 promiscuous Internet sites. "The religious police has recently confiscated a large quantity of alcohol worth more than SR15 million in Jeddah and dealt with 355 drug cases," he added.

Prince Turki warned young men harassing women in malls that they will be dealt with severely. Earlier, several malls banned the entry of singles in shopping centers and malls. This ban has been recently lifted.

​Saudi religious police hunt down Twitter ‘witchcraft’ accounts.

​Saudi religious police hunt down Twitter ‘witchcraft’ accounts.(RT).

Saudi Arabia, which has the largest number of Twitter users relative to internet users in the world, has formed a special task force to track users of the popular social media who are accused of spreading vice and witchcraft.

The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, which serves as the religious police of the conservative Gulf kingdom, is conducting surveillance of Twitter accounts in an effort to reign in heightened interest in subjects related to sorcery.

The religious public watchdog is keeping a lookout for those accounts which “are spreading vice and witchcraft” through the community, said Ahmed Al Jardan, the Commission’s spokesman, as quoted by the Saudi news network Al Arabiya.

“We will track down all those who are behind these accounts whether they are men or women…we are determined to eliminate these accounts before they become widespread and out of control,” he said.

Jardan pointed to a study conducted in Saudi Arabia that showed every fourth network user owned a Twitter account and that the total number of internet subscribers in the Gulf state is estimated at around 7 million - surpassing the combined population of Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar.

Figures that calculate ‘Twitter penetration’ are determined by the number of monthly active tweeting users relative to the total number of internet users.

The majority of internet users in Saudi Arabia do not own PCs, but use their mobile phones to access the system.

Al Arabiya quoted Saudi Arabia’s Mufti, the country’s leading Islamic cleric, as saying that social media networks like Twitter have become a “podium for spreading evil and bad ideas and exchanging accusations and lies” by many of their subscribers.

“Many Twitter users in the kingdom are also fools who lack modesty and faith,” he said.  

Video - "Hell hath no fury like a woman in Niqab?"

Video - "Hell hath no fury like a woman in Niqab?"HT: TundraTabloids.

“Don’t provoke me!” This video filmed by a shopper in a Riyadh store shows a Saudi woman giving an officer from the religious police a piece of her mind. He had apparently asked her to cover up her entire face, even though she was already wearing a traditional niqab, with only her eyes and the top of her nose visible.

When the video starts, the argument is already underway. “Nothing in Islam says a woman must fully cover her face, and I already have half my face covered,” she yells at the religious police officer, who can be recognised by his red-and-white headscarf. “Are you only here to provoke me? I have children and I need to shop for them. Leave me alone!” A regular police officer standing nearby watches, but doesn’t intervene. According to local media, the woman was not arrested.

The Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, head of Al-Azhar, the highest seat of learning in the Sunni world.“The niqab is a tradition and has nothing to do with Islam,” said Sheikh Tantawi, vowing to ban it in Al-Azhar schools.After the girl complied he insisted she should not wear it any more.“I tell you again that the niqab has nothing to do with Islam and it is only a mere custom. I understand the religion better than you and your parents.” The Grand Imam of Al-Azhar imam vowed to issue a ban against the face-veil in all schools linked to Al-Azhar.“Source

Saudi religious police chief escapes 'Muslim brotherhood' assassination attempt on his life.

Abdul Lateef Al Shaikh

Saudi religious police chief escapes 'Muslim brotherhood' assassination attempt on his life.(E24/7).

The chief of Saudi Arabia’s feared religious police escaped a bid on his life in August by old guards opposing his reforms within the security system, a newspaper in the Gulf kingdom reported on Wednesday.

Abdul Lateef Al Shaikh, chairman of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, escaped unscathed after a car tried to run him over just as he was leaving a mosque after performing dawn prayers, Alwatan said.

“The assassination attempt has been confirmed… it followed news that a wing of the Muslim Brotherhood intended to liquidate Al Shaikh after his decision to sack some Brotherhood leaders in the Commission,” the paper said, quoting reliable sources.

It said those leaders were opposed to reforms implemented by Al Shaikh, including stopping Commission cops from chasing cars on roads and halting part time agents.
“The Commission Presidency will disclose all details of the reforms in the next period… it is believed that the reforms harmed the interests of the opponents who are described by the sources as a fifth column… they used to collect donations in the name of the Commission to serve private interests,” it said.

'Mutaweem a La Morsi' - Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood To Form Civilian 'police Units' With Other Islamist Groups.

'Mutaweem a La Morsi' - Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood To Form Civilian 'police Units' With Other Islamist Groups.(GMBR).Egyptian media is reporting that the Muslim Brotherhood is cooperating with other Islamist groups in order form to form civilian police units with powers of arrest. According to an Egypt Independent report:

Tue, 12/03/2013 Jama’a al-Islamiya and the Muslim Brotherhood announced Tuesday that they are working to form groups known as the civilian police in cooperation with other Islamist groups.The militias will be able to arrest people they deem to be criminals or breaking laws. Ahmed al-Iskandarani, a spokesman for the Jama’a al-Islamiya’s Construction and Development Party, said the groups would not take action if police were on the streets.

However, should police call for further strikes or withdrawals, community police groups would step in under the supervision of the Interior Ministry. ‘This system is applied in other countries,’ he said. To garner further support for the militias, the organizers have issued an open call online. The civilian police initiative is due to growing strike action of police across much of the country.

Many are also distrustful of the police after reports of torture and excessive force used against protesters.

Yehia al-Sherbini, coordinator of the Muslim Rebels Movement, said his group is willing participate as civilian police to maintain security and protect public and private property. ‘Islamist movements are capable of replacing the police,’ he said. ‘We can arrest outlaws and hand them over to the police or the army.’ ‘We already started organizing committees in the Assiut and Minya,’ he added.

Youth members of the Muslim Brotherhood also demanded on Tuesday that they be allowed retribution after the group’s supreme guide was insulted while dining at a restaurant in Citystars mall on Monday evening.

However, Brotherhood leadership is shrugging off the incident.‘It is a trivial incident,’ said Brotherhood member Islam Fares. ‘The prophet himself was insulted and pelted with stones.’ He added that Egyptians are not known for such behavior and called for residents to respect each other.”Hmmmm.....Obama: "Morsi is a strait shooter"....yup only who's the target?Read the full story here.

Obama & Kerry's BFF Morsi Introduces Saudi-style Islamic Moral Police Force in Egypt.

Obama and Kerry's BFF Morsi Introduces Saudi-style Islamic Moral Police Force in Egypt.(IBT).By Vasudevan Sridharan. Egypt has quietly introduced a Saudi-style Islamic religious police force in order to implement the moral principles of Islam using "non-violent methods".

The Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, an informal group, made the announcement at a press conference in Cairo.

"We have absolutely no relationship with the 'morality' committees in Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Somalia or Nigeria. We will only offer advice to those who want to listen. We shall have no business with people who refuse to listen to us," said the committee's founder, Hisham el-Ashri.

The committee says it will not interfere with the work of the state's security forces and has issued assurances that it will not target nightclubs.

Nonetheless, el-Ashri said: "If a drunken customer comes out of a nightclub, we would prevent him from driving until the police arrive, so he won't hurt himself or others."

"We would not use violence [to achieve our goals] unless there was an assault from the other side that causes bloodshed. But small acts of violence towards us would be overlooked," added el-Ashri.

He said that the recent assaults on women, adultery and unofficial weddings would not have taken place in Egypt if the committee had been formed earlier.Mutaween, the Islamic religious police of Saudi Arabia, is responsible for implementing strict Sharia law.Hmmmm.....Obama: "Morsi is a Strait Shooter"....only did not mention the targets. Read the full story here.

Saudi religious police chief cries: “Don’t use violence against citizens and always smile at them”.

Saudi religious police chief cries:“Don’t use violence against citizens and always smile at them”.(E24/7).Weeping during a meeting with his juniors, the head of Saudi Arabia’s feared religious police warned members against using violence against citizens and urged them to smile whenever possible. Sheikh Abdul Latif al Shaikh, director of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, said he had been instructed by King Abdullah to treat people nicely when he was named to the post a few months ago. Al Shaikh’s call follows widespread public criticism against the Commission over the use of violence by its members against people while enforcing Islamic law in the largest Arab economy and world’s dominant oil power. He acknowledged that some Commission police men commit mistakes but added:”We are human beings not angels…those who say we do not make mistakes are wrong…we make mistakes and we apologize.” “I call on all members to break the barrier of fear and hostility with the citizens and to set up a good relationship with nationals and expatriates…smile should be the slogan of all Commission members, who should try to advise offenders and prevent them from committing sins without the need to resort to violence.” During the meeting with Commission office heads in Riyadh, he said any member who hurts citizens “would have no room in the Commission.”“We should not boast about using repression against the people we should always be tolerant…I have heard about a member who boasted that he arrested 15 women in one day….I wonder how he did this….did he have a bus?......to be honest, I am not pleased by the arrest of any one because I will be happy only when a case is tackled on the spot.” The Arabic language daily Aleqtisadiah, which reported Al Shaikh’s comments, said he could not stop crying when he recalled his meeting with King Abdullah.Read the full story here.