New Saudi Cyber Crime Unit to Crack Down on Blackmail of Women

The Saudi Arabian Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice is in the process of setting up a specialized cyber crime unit, particularly aimed at cracking down on cases of men blackmailing women with the threat of posting their pictures online.

The Commission, which is commonly referred to as the Ha’ia, is Saudi Arabia's religious police. The agency, which has about 3,500 permanent employees and many volunteers, is tasked with making sure citizens uphold the Sharia, the sacred Islamic law.

Arab News cites an anonymous source within the Ha'ia, according to whom, the general presidency of the commission has set up a special committee to investigate cyber crimes.

The committee operates out of the organization's offices in Riyadh, the country's capital, but it is only a temporary solution until the dedicated unit is formed.

The need of such a specialized force comes from an unprecedented rise in the number of blackmail cases targeting women.

The law of Islam prohibits women from showing their face, except to members of their family. It also prohibits intimate relationships outside marriage.

However, it seems that secret romances are not uncommon and sometimes women share revealing photos of themselves with their lovers. In other cases similar pictures are shared between female friends.

It also happens that some of these images later leak and end up in the hands of men who try to extort money or more intimate favors from the girls.

This is done by threatening to upload the photos online or reveal them to others, which would lead to public humiliation and scandals.

Apparently, the new unit will also be tasked with monitoring the country's cyber space for websites displaying inappropriate content and working with other government departments to take them down.

This story outlines the major differences in cyber threats that western and middle eastern countries face.

While, for example, UK's Police Central e-crime Unit (PCeU) focuses on fighting cyber fraud and identity theft, Saudi Arabia authorities are more concerned with upholding religious laws.