Some Saudi women are getting tired of being harassed by the country’s religious police. Asharq al-Awsat reports:
Head of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in the Eastern province Dr. Mohamed bin Marshood al-Marshood, told Asharq Al Awsat that two of the Commission’s employees were verbally insulted and attacked by two inappropriately-dressed females, in the old market in Prince Bandar street, an area usually crowded with shoppers during the month of Ramadan.
According to Dr. Al-Marshood, the two commission members approached the girls in order to “politely” advise and guide them regarding their inappropriate clothing. Consequently, the two girls started verbally abusing the commission members, which then lead to one of the girls pepper-spraying them in the face as the other girl filmed the incident on her mobile phone, while continuing to hurl insults at them.
Wow, that takes courage. Obviously, this incident is not the only time that someone has decided to challenge the religious police’s authority. Recently, however, popular hostility towards such abuse seems increasingly common in Saudi Arabia. Not long ago, for example, a case was brought before Riyadh’s Grievances Court against alleged mistreatment at the hands of the religious police. In a case that has gotten much media attention, a woman named Umm Faisal has been trying to sue for damages for harassment against herself and her daughters.
I would like to post the video of this latest act of defiance (the article notes that one of the girls filmed it on her cellphone), but I haven’t yet found a copy. I am beginning to doubt that it made it online. In the meantime, however, there are clips available of similar incidents from Iran. Here’s one of them: