Mick Hartley

I do enjoy these "vice cop" tales from Saudi Arabia. Has anyone ever thought of turning their exploits into a TV series, I wonder?

A member of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice barged into a women’s professional training center in Al-Sultana district of Madinah, chasing after a young woman who went into the center to escape the pursuing man.

According to police, the commission member saw the woman in a car with a young man. The man was arrested on khulwa (illegal seclusion) charges, but the woman fled into the center, hoping the commission member would not pursue her.

Eyewitnesses said the commission member pushed his way into the center, grabbed the woman by her hair and dragged her out. “The women were horrified,” said an eyewitness who did not want to be identified. “We called the police.”

Muhsin Al-Radadi, Madinah police spokesman, said the owner of the women’s center has filed a complaint against the commission with the police. The commission has responded with a complaint against the center, said Al-Radadi.

Khulwa, for those not familiar with the Saudi legal system, means that the woman was alone in the presence of an unrelated young man – in a car, in this case.

Given the dangerous nature of the work - for instance, dragging women around by the hair - it's hardly surprising that members of the Commission are pushing for better conditions:

The Administrative Court in Riyadh is looking into a case filed by 300 agents of the Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (Hai’a) against their presidency demanding “job rights”.

The rights that are being sought include allowances for field work, dangerous assignments, working on the weekends, and working at night, and special allowances for those agents who have bachelor’s and master’s degrees.