Saudi Gazette report

 

HAIL — A salesman working in a shop where a member of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (Haia) kicked out a Saudi woman on Sunday for apparently dressing immodestly has claimed the official used “insulting language” when talking to the victim.



Ahmed Abdul Azim, an Egyptian expatriate, said the Haia member verbally attacked the woman for not wearing a headscarf, gloves or stockings even though she was modestly dressed.



According to Al-Hayat newspaper on Tuesday, the member also assaulted an old Saudi woman about four months ago in Barazan market in the city and his case is still being considered by the Bureau of Investigation and Public Prosecution (BIP).



The eyewitness said the woman was sitting inside the shop waiting for her gift of SR1,000 to be wrapped when the Haia member entered the shop, called her bad names and asked her to leave immediately.



He said the woman pleaded with him to let her wait to take her gift but he refused.



“I was busy wrapping the gift. The shop owner, who was present at the time, was also busy doing something else when suddenly the Haia member entered the shop and started shouting at the woman.”



The salesman said the member in a loud voice told the woman that she was not properly dressed and had to leave the place.



He said: “The member said to the woman that she was putting on the abaya (loose flowing garment all women must wear in Saudi Arabia) of a housemaid and came flying to the men to compensate for her shortcomings.



“He said these women are wanting in religion and modesty and she should go out quickly.”



The eyewitness said the woman responded and went out of the shop, but as she was on her way out the member asked her where her male guardian was. The woman replied that her husband had traveled to Riyadh and she was ready to call him if the official wanted to talk to him.



Azim said the woman asked the member to give her time until the gift, for a female relative, was packed but he would not listen.



“He said, ‘Let another of your relatives come to take the gift but you will not stay any more to take anything and you should go out now’.”



He said the shop owner tried to intervene but the member asked him to keep quiet.



The official also told the owner never to allow young women to sit inside the shop for any reason, said Azim.