ABU DHABI — Saudi Arabia is providing training for its controversial
religious police on how to relate with diplomats and non-Muslims.
Officials said the Saudi Foreign Ministry would sponsor a course for the
10,000 religious police, who have been accused of brutality in efforts to enforce Islamic
law. They said the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of
Vice would undergo training by the ministry's Institute of Diplomatic
Studies in April.
This was not the first attempt to train religious police officers, who
have consistently overstepped their authority. In 2007, the Saudi government
announced a series of programs that also were to teach officers human rights and ensure
coordination with the Interior Ministry.
Also In This Edition
"What distinguishes the training programs organized by the institute is
that they are short and focus on seminars rather than lectures and delivered
by specialized experts from the institute and others from outside," Nasser
Al Marzouqi Al Buqmi, a supervisor at the institute, said.
Officials said the first course by the institute would take place on
April 20. They said the training would take about two weeks, which would
enable hundreds if not thousands of officers to undergo training over the
next year.
The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice has
been charged with killing or injuring several people in 2007. Many Saudis
have urged King Abdullah to disband the force, comprised mostly of graduates
of Islamic seminaries.
But Abdullah, intent on maintaining support from the Saudi clergy, has
doubled the religious police force over the last 18 months. At the same
time, the king has approved the establishment of so-called community police.
