Goosebumps: An Unbelievable Incident
The article examines a March 2002 fire at a girls' school in Mecca and reports allegations that the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice obstructed rescue efforts, contributing to many deaths and injuries.
العربيةRead the Arabic original
English translation, prepared and reviewed before publication. The Arabic text is authoritative.
- Published
- Reading time
- 2 min read
2-11-2018
- The story of the mutawa... - The Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice - in Saudi Arabia, they prevented helping Saudi girls who were terrified and were later burned... in their school... in 2002 because they were not wearing the black abaya.!!!.
- March 2002... I recalled that incident that happened in a girls' school in Mecca. On that date...... when the Saudi media... directed very sharp criticism, which is rare... at the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice...(the mutawa or mutawwa'in).!!!..and accused them of obstructing rescue efforts for fifteen girls... who died in a fire at their school... and the victims' families poured out their anger at this group... because of the girls' deaths in the fire that consumed their school... and injured fifty other girls with various injuries... Most of the girls lost their lives... underfoot due to trampling and falling when they were trying to flee through the school gate... which was locked... and they were not allowed to open it to bring out the girls who were calling for help... and men were prevented from entering the school... to extinguish the fire..!!
- The Saudi newspaper "Al-Eqtisadiah" reported at the time... that firefighters quarreled with members of the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, after they tried to keep the girls inside the building that was being consumed by flames on the pretext that they were not wearing the hijab and the black abaya..
- The paper quoted a civil defense officer as saying that he saw three of the committee's men... beating small girls... to prevent them from leaving the school because they... were not wearing the black abaya!!!
- The Saudi English-language newspaper Saudi Gazette... in a front-page report... quoted eyewitnesses saying that the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice... prevented any attempt to help the girls and warned that approaching them was a sin!!!
- The paper quoted the father of a girl who died in the fire as saying that the school guard refused to open the gate to let the girls... out!!! ...and schools in Saudi Arabia are usually tightly locked to prevent strangers from sneaking into the school...
- A sad... and unbelievable thing... that such ignorant groups should remain!! They command and forbid... by their own decision.... in the Land of the Two Holy Mosques....!!