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Jeddah: The agents of the Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice have been barred from entering the family sections of restaurants and hotels without the express permission of the commission's chief.
Shaikh Ebrahim Al Gaith, who heads the commission, said he received directives from Prince Khalid Al Faisal, Emir of Makkah region, to ban commission members from entering the family section of restaurants unless prior permission is granted to them.
Al Gaith said the Emir's instructions do not apply to eateries in malls and shopping centres.
Commission staff randomly enter malls, restaurants and local and private establishments to enforce proper moral conduct. The organisation is one of the largest law-enforcement bodies in Saudi Arabia and boasts a 10,000-strong workforce with 486 centres in the Kingdom's 13 regions.
In an earlier interview, Al Gaith stressed the commission staff were governed by a code of law and did not follow their personal discretion while on the job. Field work regulations issued by the commission governed its members' actions and an ethos of accountability encouraged people to abide by the rules, he said.
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