Yemen Observer: http://www.yobserver.com
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Written By: Mohammed al-Kibsi
Article Date: Aug 11, 2008 - 12:52:46 AM
The newly established vice and virtue committee elected Sheikh Abdulmajid al-Zindani as a president of the committee, Sheikh Sadiq Bin Abdullah Bin Hussein al-Ahmar vice president and Sheikh Hamoud al-Tharihi as a Secretary General, said Sheikh Hamoud al-Tharihi.
He added that Ali Abdu Rabo al-Awadhi , Abdullah Hasan Khairat and Sheikh Mohammed al-Baidhani were also elected as assistant secretary generals.
Altharihi also said that the committee will resume its meetings on Monday to finalize its structure and to discuss ways of implementing the resolutions and recommendations of the scholars forum that was held last month. According to al-Tharihi based on the results of the Monday meeting the committee is communicate with the president of the republic to present him the results and resolutions of the forum.
"The committee will also follow up the government to do its duties for fighting vice and promoting virtue, because it’s the government responsibility to fight vice or to change irregularities by hand," said Sheikh Hamoud al-Tharihi.
Many civil society organizations have opposed the creation of the vice and virtue committee among them was the Yemeni Women union that launched a sit in and submitted a complain to the parliament against the newly established vice and virtue committee about a booklet circulated during the forum. The booklet prohibited the proposed quota system and included many insults and humiliation of women.
Yemen Observer
Thousands of Yemeni Muslim Sheikhs and scholars as well as some sympathizer tribal sheikhs had called for establishing the vice and virtue organization during their conference held in Sana'a last month.
During that meeting the chairman of the preparatory committee of the vice and virtue, Dr. currently president of the vice and virtue committee Abdulmajid al-Zindani illustrated the functions and the mechanisms of the vice and virtue organization and the roles to be played by the authorities in charge in the government and the roles of the public to combat vice and realize virtue .
Al-Zindani said that the governmental authorities in charge should be utilized and should visualize the virtue police and the general prosecution as well as the ministry of endowments and guidance to combat the different vice and malpractices. On this respect al-Zindani called on the governmental authorities to close down and curb all vice and prostitution institutions, in reference to the nightclubs, bars, and all other entertainment facilities.
He added that the role of the vice and virtue and the role of the religious scholars will be realized firstly by uniting the word and attitudes of the scholars and secondly through visualizing the role of the scholars' organization.
Al-Zindani added that the public role for fighting vice should be represented in fighting vice 'by tongue' through reporting and complaining to the authorities in charge about any violations of the Islamic rules.
During the same meeting Sheikh Hamoud al-Tharihi, one of the establishers of the vice and virtue organization, currently secretary general of the vice and virtue committee a leader in the Islah Islamic party in his paperwork that he read at the conference justified the establishment of the vice and virtue organization to the spread of vice in the country.
He illustrated a number of practices that contradict with the Islamic rules among them he said was the spread of the prostitution facilities, spread of places that sell wines, and drugs, spread of places that sell porno, singing and dancing CDs , hotels that facilitate watching scrambled satellite channels ,spread of the phenomenon of girls absenting from schools, spread of the tourism marriage and the Yemeni media and satellite channel for the sacristy of the holy month of Ramadhan "the Muslims' fasting month", in reference to broadcasting songs and women' on TV. in Ramadhan month '.
