Members of Saudi
Arabia's religious police roughed up a British resident of Riyadh after
they caught him paying at a women-only cash desk, local media reported
on Monday.
Saudi Arabia imposes a strict interpretation of Islamic laws, notably a segregation of the sexes.
A short video posted on YouTube on Sunday shows a member of the
religious police jump out of his car and attack the Briton, who was
accompanied by a woman in a black abaya cloak who defended him.
"That's my wife, how dare you!" the Briton is heard shouting in the video.
A short video posted on YouTube on Sunday shows a member of the religious police jump out of his car and attack …Al-Hayat
newspaper, quoting witnesses, said the religious police had stopped the
man in a supermarket after he had paid a female cashier.
The Briton replied that he was accompanied by his wife.
Only women are allowed to pay at females-only cash desks in the
kingdom. A man accompanied by female family members can stop at such
desks so long as a woman deals with the cashier.
After he left the supermarket, religious police agents filmed his car, and he responded by doing the same, Al-Hayat said.
A heated exchange followed as he refused to hand over his camera to
the agents, who "attacked and pushed him to the ground," according to
witnesses cited by the daily.
That's my wife, how dare you! the Briton is heard shouting in the video.
The Briton, a convert to Islam, is a longtime resident of the kingdom
and married to a Saudi woman, according to Al-Hayat, which said he was
finally driven away in a British embassy car.
The religious police, named the
Commission of the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice and
known unofficially as Mutawaa, have opened an investigation, Al-Hayat
said.
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