Blackmail against women on the rise in Saudi

Saudi women are susceptible to electronic blackmail, with several cases occurring after computers and cell phones were taken to male repair shops (File)

DUBAI (AlArabiya)

Blackmail against women is on the rise in Saudi Arabia with more complaints to the religious police, according to press reports, prompting some women to take matters into their own hands.

Electronic blackmail, using pictures of women stored on their computer, the internet or mobile phones, has become an increasingly common form of blackmail used to extort money from the victim or force her into prostitution.

Last year 65 women and girls filed cases in Mecca alone, though many never make a formal report, Ahmed Qassem al-Ghamdi, head of the Mecca branch of the Commission for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice told the London-based Asharq al-Awsat Saturday.

A study by the commission last year found that blackmail often involves threatening to harm a woman’s reputation by telling or showing her family scandalous information, and that victims typically range in age between 16 and 39.

Blackmail cases often result from an illicit relationship between the offender and the victim, said Ghamdi, though he noted the prevalence of cases in which pictures were taken from or put on a woman’s computer or cell phone after being left at repair shops.

Empowering women Om Sandos configures women's computers to protect their privacy and prevent blackmail by the idea of protecting women from blackmail and being taken advantage of by men, one Saudi girl decided to open a small tech shop in her house following reports about such blackmail cases and demand by women who had been victimized after their computers were “fixed” by men. Om Sandos taught herself the technical skills needed to format and repair computers and obtained an ICDL computer skills certificate, according to the Saudi newspaper Shams. "When I felt I am fully trained, I stopped voluntary work and turned the project into a business," she told the paper.

" When I felt I am fully trained, I stopped voluntary work and turned the project into a business " Om Sandos, businesswoman She configures women's computers to protect their privacy and hopes one day to open a female repair shop for women clientele only, if her family approves. "When I felt I am fully trained, I stopped voluntary work and turned the project into a business," she told the paper. In one blackmail case, the male perpetrator threatened to post 37 pictures of his female victim on the internet if she did not agree to pay him 10,000 riyals ($2,665). The woman reported the crime and instead of meeting her at a Jeddah resteraunt as planned the suspect was greeted by officers who then arrested him. Text messages on his cell phone showed that he was also blackmailing other girls.

Settling scores " Punishing girls who sinned will make the problem worse. They have to be offered protection even if they made a mistake " Ali bin Mohamed Al Hayan Ali bin Mohamed Al Hayan, head of the committee branch in Jeddah, told Asharq al-Awsat the committee uses “extreme confidentiality” to preserve the woman’s honor, though the commission seeks to ensure the information provided by an alleged victim is accurate and not simply an attempt to settle old scores. He added that if a woman is blackmailed because she was involved in an illicit relationship but confesses she is not punished because confession is the first step towards redemption. "Punishing girls who sinned will make the problem worse," he was quoted as saying. "They have to be offered protection even if they made a mistake." But for those who are taken advantage of by repair technicians it may be easier to simply avoid the hassle by using female businesses or configuring their technologies to prevent unwanted intrusion. And business is booming, said Sondos.