Snipped from msnbc.msn.com

Yes, this is for real. Having lived in Saudi Arabia for over a year, I observed first hand the heavy handed and ruthless tactics employed by the “religious police”. These are men who you wouldn’t recoginze as “police” except for their signs of piety sporting scraggly beards, traditional white robes falling slightly above the ankle and red-and-white checkered head scarves minus the black cords on their head to hold them down. Oh, and the other thing — they carry a big stick and I mean BIG stick. They patrol the streets to make sure shops are closed during prayer times by banging on the store fronts with their big stick. And they also don’t hesitate to bang on people’s heads (literally) if an unrelated man attempts to mingle with a woman, or if a woman isn’t properly covered. Well, it seems maybe they have gone too far because there is an unprecedented trial going on in Saudi Arabia in which the religious police are accused of murdering two men. And, you won’t believe what their “crimes” were.

In the first case, a man was accused of socializing with an unrelated woman and in the second case, the man was accused of being an “alcohol peddler”. It was reported that the “alcohol peddler” was beaten in front of his father after they found large amounts of alcohol in their home. When the man fell unconscious, an ambulance was called but he was already dead.

The religious police are part of a large garrison of some 10,000 in 500 offices scattered across the kingdom. This commission is known as the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (don’t you just love that name?). It is a result of the narrow interpretation of the Koran as enforced by Sharia Law. Sharia Law is the strict Wahhabi interpretation of Islam, named after its 18th-century founder, Muhammad bin Abdul-Wahhab. Wahhabism is the foundation of radical Islam and is what is threatening total domination in order to bring Sharia Law to the entire world.

Here is a portion of the article that reveals more of the actions of the feared police.

“Things have gotten so out of hand that the commission has taken on the roles of policeman, judge and jury. Its employees exercise the right to suspect, accuse, detain and punish on the spot while they also enjoy immunity from any kind of accountability or questioning,” Arab News columnist Abeer Mishkhas wrote this week.

Authorities are also investigating an incident in which an Indonesian maid in Jiddah jumped to her death from the window of a fourth-floor apartment when it was raided by the commission, the beating of a university student in the southern city of Najran who allegedly had inappropriate photos in his cellphone, and the arrest of two brothers accused of alcohol possession.

If you would like to read the full article click the image below.