Under a plan approved by Saudi King Abdullah, the kingdom’s religious police have been granted oversight authority over various forms of digital media including the Internet and mobile technologies.
“There are bad examples of how modern technology is used, for example the selling of types of decoder cards or decoders that access pornographic channels, the spreading of pornographic images or clips on mobile phones via Bluetooth or the Internet, or facilitating access to such clips,” said Suleyman Tuwaijri, director of the religious police in Medina, according to WorldTribune.com.
Under the plan, 375 officers from the Saudi religious police, formally known as the “Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice in Saudi Arabia,” will receive training in mobile technology and use of various web-related technologies.
Tuwaijri said that police also will be taught English and other languages in order to more effectively make their way around the Internet and to facilitate communication with foreigners. Tuwaijri said officers must learn to identify sacrilegious products and websites.
“There are commercial goods that could cause offense to religions such as those that are contemptuous towards God or anything that Muslims deem sacred, or that contain phrases against Islam,” Tuwaijri said. “There are goods that bear indecent phrases or pictures or that promote vice.”
King Abdullah has substantially increased both the authority and size of the religious police force since assuming the throne in 2005. Under Abdullah’s reign, the size of the religious police force has doubled from 5,000 members to 10,000.
In March the Saudi government passed a law that prohibits unauthorized photography using a cellphone, setting a one-year prison term and a fine of $133,000 for violations.
The cellphone photography law reportedly stemmed from complaints made by prominent Saudi citizens concerning the use of cellphones to surreptitiously photograph women in public places. In some instances, photos of Saudi women in bathrooms and dressing rooms had been posted online.
