It is a crime to shake hands with females openly in KSA -Riyadh governor Prince Salman intervention saves Saudi singer Hisham Abdel Rahman, made famous in the Arab World by winning this year’s "Star Academy" reality TV show from Saudi Arabia’s enforcers of virtue i.e. religious police detention.
DUBAI: Star or not, Saudi Arabia’s enforcers of virtue make no exceptions: handshakes and congratulatory kisses in mixed company do not belong in a public mall. Religious authorities briefly detained Saudi singer Hisham Abdel Rahman, made famous in the Arab World by winning this year’s "Star Academy" reality TV show for causing an indecent scene, a Riyadh police official said on late Saturday. "Star Academy" is based on a French show of the same name and as wildly popular in the Arab world as the like-minded US show, "American Idol." Male and female fans had spotted Abdel Rahman, 24, strolling through Kingdom Tower Mall on Wednesday and rushed to him to shake his hand and bestow congratulatory kisses.
Members of the Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, the formal name for Saudi’ Arabia’s religious police, doing their regular mall patrol were upset by the scene, which they deemed "improper," the police official said on condition of anonymity.
The religious police tried to disperse the crowd and told Abdel Rahman to leave the mall, according to local newspaper accounts confirmed by the police official. The young star, however, reportedly refused and started squabbling with the clerics. Abdel Rahman was forcibly escorted out and taken to the religious police offices for questioning. He was briefly held before a senior official intervened to secure his release, the police official said, refusing to identify the official who made the telephone call. Abdel Rahman was flown to his hometown of Jiddah, the official said. Arab News, an English-language Saudi daily newspaper, reported that the call was made from the office of Riyadh governor Prince Salman. |
