What are the powers of Saudi Arabia's Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice?
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AntigoneRising
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Time Magazine recently described their power and activities this way: “The commission acts as the conservative Kingdom's morality police, enforcing a strict Wahhabi code of behavior--and is notorious for excesses that terrorize Saudi men and women alike. Commission members are known for effectively abducting women who are deemed to be showing too much skin from beneath their full-length black abaya gowns in public. Such women will then disappear for hours or even days to a commission office for interrogation. If you are unlucky enough to be the male driver of a woman accused of exhibiting loose morals--women, you'll remember, are forbidden from driving in Saudi Arabia-- you may get beat up in the course of the woman's arrest. Saudi Interior Minister Prince Naif bin Abdulaziz Al Saud has been notoriously easy on the commission, which is part of the Kingdom's powerful Wahhabi establishment. But this week, the Arab News reported, Naif's ministry ordered the commission to strictly abide by the regulations governing the commission and hand anyone accused of morality offenses immediately over to regular police officers".
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