Haia to sue two papers for running ‘honey trap’ story

JEDDAH/RIYADH: The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (Haia) is preparing a lawsuit against two newspapers whose reports accused the body of using obscene photographs to lure suspected criminals online. According to a report in a newspaper, the Bureau of Investigation and Public Prosecution in Asir warned Haia to stop luring suspected criminals of cyber crimes by luring them through obscene photographs. They also warned the commission to “strictly stick with criminal procedure regulations laid out by the law.” The Investigation Bureau in Asir was reportedly informed by the arrested suspects that the conversations they had online were not initiated by them but by strangers they met on the Internet. They reportedly said that they were sent obscene images by strangers who insisted on meeting them in person. When they agreed, they were surprised to be arrested, reported the paper. They claimed it was the religious police, and not regular civilians as initially thought, who were the senders of the inappropriate images. Haia spokesman Turki Al-Shalil, in his response, denied the allegation and said: “We address all the IT and ethical criminal activities in accordance with the law and regulations as laid out by standard criminal regulations.” Al-Shalil said in a statement that Haia denies having ever used phishing and spyware software in monitoring suspected criminals that do not comply with the law. The lawsuit against the two papers — Makkah and Marsad — follows their reports alleging the abuse of power by Haia. The papers are accused of publishing offensive and false news relating to Islamic scholars. Meanwhile, a Haia member in Riyadh was run over and injured on Thursday morning by a young man he was trying to arrest for being alone with a woman, according to a report in a local publication. Sources said Bandar Al-Inizi was run over when he tried to stop two young men alone with a woman. After he arrested one man, the other one hit him with his car, resulting in a fracture of his pelvis. He is currently in hospital. The attacker drove away with the woman. Al-Hamra police department has issued a notification for his arrest, and for the woman to be brought in for questioning. -arabnews