JEDDAH // The Saudi religious police force is embarking on a 20-year strategic plan to restructure and modernise, yet the plan fails to include women in the force, a demand that the Saudi parliament (Shoura Council) has recently pushed for.
The plan, which ensures the continued social role of the vice police in combating moral infringements, has ended a debate in parliament about merging the Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, as the religious police are officially known, with the ministry of Islamic affairs.
The powerful religious police are not subject to any accountability by the Shoura Council or other government agencies and are part of the interior ministry.
The religious police's unchecked power, and its harsh tactics with the public, prompted many members of the council to ask for its merger with the ministry of Islamic affairs, over which the council has oversight.
The Saudi government is supporting the long-term strategic plan, called Hisba , which means voluntarily fighting evil, that was launched this month by the deputy premier and minister of interior, Prince Naif.
Omaima al Jalahimah, a former conservative female consultant for the Shoura Council, wrote in her column in the Al Watan daily last week that although she approves of the plan as it is, she looks forward to seeing more women on its staff.
"I really wish to see fully capable female departments at the police supported by female security forces," she wrote. However, many Saudis are sceptical that introducing women to the force would moderate its strict practices, and others believe that integration is impossible because it contradicts one of the major roles of the police - enforcing the segregation of the sexes.
Talal Bakri, the head of the social affairs and family committee at the Shoura Council, and who opposed the resolution to include women, asked the council members in one of last month's sessions: "How can we hold the police accountable for the charges of mingling with females if they interact with their male colleagues?"
"Including female staff will add confusion to the organisation of the police and will conflict with its mission to segregate males from females," said Mohammed al Zulfah, a former Shoura Council member.
Mr al Zulfah said the ministry of Islamic affairs and the religious police are male-dominated bodies similar to any other religious agency in the kingdom and thus cannot allow women to join their staff.
Adhwan al Ahmari, a Saudi reporter who specialises in covering religious police news for Al Watan daily, said even if the police force accepted women, they would be as strict as their male counterparts.
"Nothing will change ? The police will recruit female staff with strict religious backgrounds and mainly they will be relatives to the existing members," Mr al Ahmari said.
Hisba was drafted by the research and strategic planning centre at King Fahd University for Petroleum and Minerals, a public university that works closely with the oil-giant Saudi Aramco. Sheikh Abdul Aziz al Humain, the head of the religious police, said in a statement that the Hisba plan was aimed at improving the police's work in the field and its organisational structure.
The plan also aims at improving communication and interaction between the religious police with the public.
"We have appointed two spokesmen to provide correct information about our activities," said Mr al Humain following the signing of the agreement at the university this month.
The university's strategic studies and planning centre will take one year to prepare the strategy. Once ready, the strategy will include a five-year executive plan in its first stage.
Sheikh Ibrahim al Huwaimel, deputy head of the religious police, said in a statement following the signing of the agreement that the executive plan covers development, training and educational programmes for the staff.
"We'll also set out certain mechanisms to monitor quality of services and performance of workers. We'll promote a culture of planning and strategic thinking among our officials and staff," he said.
In addition to Hisba, the police announced this month that it had plans to reach out to the youth, a segment of society that especially dislikes police interference in daily life but attracts much of their attention.
The religious police announced last week that it will go into partnership with five ministries that handle youth issues - the ministries of education, higher education, culture and information, municipality affairs and youth welfare. The Saudi government is also implementing a wider plan to moderate religious institutions and widen the participation of all Islamic sects in the state building process of the Sunni-dominated kingdom.
As part of the plan, Saudi King Abdullah reshuffled the government in February to introduce moderate figures to the country's religious institutions. King Abdullah increased the number of Shiite members of the Shoura Council to five from two, and added scholars from the Maliki doctrine to the council of senior scholars, which is dominated by Hanbali scholars.
wmahdi@thenational.ae
Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
SM Town Live is on Friday, April 6 at Autism Rocks Arena, Dubai. Tickets are Dh375 at www.platinumlist.net
The specs: 2018 Nissan Altima
Price, base / as tested: Dh78,000 / Dh97,650
Engine: 2.5-litre in-line four-cylinder
Power: 182hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque: 244Nm @ 4,000rpm
Transmission: Continuously variable tranmission
Fuel consumption, combined: 7.6L / 100km
Semi-final fixtures
Portugal v Chile, 7pm, today
Germany v Mexico, 7pm, tomorrow
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
- Look beyond school fees
- Keep an open mind
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
MANDOOB
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Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Recipe: Spirulina Coconut Brothie
Ingredients
1 tbsp Spirulina powder
1 banana
1 cup unsweetened coconut milk (full fat preferable)
1 tbsp fresh turmeric or turmeric powder
½ cup fresh spinach leaves
½ cup vegan broth
2 crushed ice cubes (optional)
Method
Blend all the ingredients together on high in a high-speed blender until smooth and creamy.
THE SPECS
Engine: Four-cylinder 2.5-litre
Transmission: Seven-speed auto
Power: 165hp
Torque: 241Nm
Price: Dh99,900 to Dh134,000
On sale: now
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The specs: 2018 Mercedes-Benz S 450
Price, base / as tested Dh525,000 / Dh559,000
Engine: 3.0L V6 biturbo
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Power: 369hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 500Nm at 1,800rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 8.0L / 100km
AIDA%20RETURNS
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The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
The specs: 2018 Volkswagen Teramont
Price, base / as tested Dh137,000 / Dh189,950
Engine 3.6-litre V6
Gearbox Eight-speed automatic
Power 280hp @ 6,200rpm
Torque 360Nm @ 2,750rpm
Fuel economy, combined 11.7L / 100km
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
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9.30pm: Forever Young
