| The Saudi Interior Ministry has issued guidelines banning morality police from detaining suspects, after recent deaths in their custody raised questions about the role of the controversial force. Newspapers reported on Friday and Saturday that the order, which has been distributed to state prosecutors, includes an explicit ban on extracting confessions and inspections of morality police offices to ensure no one is being held there. The order follows previous efforts to regulate the activities of the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, including a royal decree last year that they must deliver suspects to Interior Ministry police officers. A source close to the affair told Reuters that this weekÂ’s order was not intended to be made public. Recent cases have caused embarrassment to the force, which has wide powers to enforce bans on drugs, alcohol and prostitution. |