A group of men were detained by the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice for trying to help a woman who screamed for help as she was being forcibly taken away by commission members. The incident occurred in a market in Taif. According to Al-Watan newspaper, the men came to the aid of a woman who was begging for help as she was being dragged away by a man who said he was a member of the commission and who insisted on detaining her. The commission member saw the woman getting into a car with a man after she had come into the market with another woman; he then took the driver's car keys which prompted the woman to run back into the mall. The commission member followed her, physically detained her and attempted to drag her into the commission's van. It was at this point that the men intervened on the woman's behalf. The police were called and detained the men who had tried to help the woman as well as the man who was the driver of the car. The woman was released.A member of the commission in Jeddah was unaware of the incident which took place on Sunday. "We are an agency for monitoring and guiding; our role is to advise and solve problems amicably and politely and to increase public awareness of what is correct behavior," he said. "What that man did does not represent the commission. When we see something wrong, we are not supposed to expose the person making the error." The commission member went on to emphasize that the commission is not a law-enforcement body. "In cases of crimes that affect society, such as selling and manufacturing drugs and alcohol, we always coordinate with the police in raiding the site," he explained.
Various members of the public expressed outrage about the incident in Taif. "Even though what the woman did was wrong, those religious policemen have no right to watch people or detain them," said Samia. "In Islam, it is not right to expose someone who is committing a sin or making a mistake; they should be advised privately and helped to see the error of their ways. And why did the police detain the men who tried to help the woman? Is it now wrong to protect women?" Salah also expressed a strong opinion. "The commission is an advisory and awareness body rather than an executive or judiciary one. This is chaos. How can anyone just approach people and detain them? Such actions are what harms the commission's reputation." Salah went on to say that there should be no force in Islam. "Even though commission members play a positive role in combating alcohol and drug violations and brothels, they do sometimes overstep their limits and go beyond their jurisdiction. Also the man in the car should be punished in public to deter others from such behavior but I don't approve of exposing a woman because a woman's reputation is precious."