Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — Col. Talal Al-Shalhoub, security spokesman of the Ministry of Interior, warned against photographing and publishing crimes of all kinds, saying that it is considered as a violation of the Anti-Cybercrime Law.

In an interview with the “Saudi Street” program on the Saudi Television channel, held on the sidelines of the Ministry of Interior’s participation in the recently concluded World Defense Show 2024, he said: “Do not treat a crime with a crime, no matter what it is... prevention is safety, and photographing and publishing the crime is a cybercrime.”

Addressing members of the Saudi society, Col. Al-Shalhoub said: “When a crime or a specific event is witnessed and documented, it must be presented to the security authorities and should be notified to the security personnel at the Security Operations Center 911,” he said while emphasizing that such documentation should never be posted or published in the social media domain so that this does not fall under the public opinion, in addition to this being considered as defamation.

The ministry spokesman stressed that documentation is not limited to photography only, but rather includes publishing recordings of security surveillance cameras installed in stores, markets and elsewhere. “This is also a violation for which penalties for violating the Security Surveillance Camera Law will be applied, in addition to application of the penalties stipulated in the articles of other laws. It is noteworthy that cybercrime implies any act which involves the use of computers or information networks in violation of the provisions of the Anti-Cybercrime Law