Russ Read on April 13, 2016 at The Daily Caller News Foundation

The Saudi Arabian government stripped its religious police force of its arrest power Wednesday, telling the organization to act more “kindly” when enforcing the country’s strict Islamic rules.

The Haia or Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (CPVPV) has historically employed what are called “mutaween,” or religious police, to make arrests against Saudi citizens for crimes like women failing to dress modestly, witchcraft and drinking alcohol. The Saudi Arabian cabinet’s new regulations now require religious police to report offenses to local police and vice officers.

“Neither the heads nor members of the Haia are to stop or arrest or chase people or ask for their IDs or follow them – that is considered the jurisdiction of the police or the drug unit,” says the new regulation.

The religious police are particularly well-known for the harassment of women. The force became the subject of many jokes across Saudi Arabia in February when an officer arrested a man for violating Islamic law because he wore a mascot suit of a cartoon woman in a dress.

When they are not mistakenly arresting mascots, the religious police are known to utilize harsh tactics on the public. Shortly after the mascot arrest, religious police were taken into custody after a video surfaced of a woman in a shopping mall being assaulted by officers because her long robe opened briefly to reveal her bare leg.

It is not only women who are consistently harassed by the religious police, even local celebrities are not spared. When Abdul Aziz al-Kassar, a Saudi actor and apparent heartthrob, was visiting a mall during a visit from his home in Kuwait, he was immediately surrounded by adoring female fans taking pictures and selfies with him. After causing quite the commotion, al-Kassar was hauled away by a reported member of the religious police.

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