Saudi religious cop says plan to recruit women fails

Plans by Saudi Arabia’s religious police to recruit women for the first time has failed because of opposition by some parties in the Muslim Gulf Kingdom, the police chief was quoted on Friday as saying.

The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, the most influential law enforcing agency in Saudi Arabia, said last year it was planning to hire females to deal with cases involving women, adding that the decision needs approval by authorities.

“Our plans to recruit women have been obstructed by some parties… if we get approval, we will start recruiting women immediately,” the Commission’s Chairman Abdul Lateef Al Shaikh said, quoted by the Saudi Arabic language daily Okaz.

Al Shaikh did not identify the parties opposing such plans, which were supported by several members of Shura, Saudi Arabia’s appointed parliament.

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