Yes, We Need Al-Haia, but With Checks and Balances

Personally, I found the presence of the Haia made an even mundane outing like grocery shopping, potentially exciting! It is interesting that there is public discussion of abuses of the Haia now...

Yes, We Need Al-Haia, but With Checks and Balances: "Members of the National Society for Human Rights are visiting Ibrahim Al-Gaith, president of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (known as Haia) to check some disturbing complaints.

According to Ms. Suhaila Zein Alabedeen, the newly founded nongovernmental organization is checking stories of human rights abuses by zealot members of the commission.

Cases include beating, imprisonment and verbal abuse of innocent couples because of unfounded suspicions of improper relations. Others complain that the commission members hunt for such relations in family sections of public places. If single men are not allowed into these areas why make an exception in the case of these members — they ask. Many were taken from malls, restaurants and streets just because they couldn’t prove they were relatives.

A South African nurse was caught in a supermarket with her Lebanese boyfriend. Both were Christians shopping for Christmas. The “Haia” put them in its private prison for 14 days. Both were denied phone calls and access to their lawyers, embassies and companies. It took their relatives and friends a couple of weeks to find and bail them out."