Saudi stops random raids by religious police

Saudi Arabia’s feared religious police have told their members to stop random raids of houses in the conservative Muslim Gulf Kingdom and stressed that any task must be authorized by their command.

The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, the most influential law enforcement authority in Saudi Arabia, said it was in the process of creating an “operation room” to authorize raids of houses and other places.

The move followed the appointment of a new chairman, Sheikh Abdul Latif al Shaikh, by King Abdullah early this year after growing public discontent due to the Commission’s random raids and harassment of people in the public under the excuse of enforcing Islamic law and ending indecent acts.

According to the Saudi Arabic language daily Alwatan, the Commission had already told its members to seek prior approval before embarking on raids or other sensitive tasks that could anger citizens.

“The commission is in the process of establishing an operation room to organize such commands to its members when it comes to raids and other key tasks,” the paper said, quoting sources in the Commission headquarters.

“In line with the new rules, Commission members will not raid any suspected place without getting authorization from the operation room…as for other normal missions, they can carry them out without the need for prior approval.”

The paper said approval for raids would be given to the religious police through a computerized system that would link their cars with the operation room.

It quoted Al Shaikh as saying last month that the Commission would give authorization to raids only after the information is verified and the supplier of the information is identified and confirmed.

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