Manama: Authorities in Saudi Arabia have arrested a doctor who had been blackmailing young women after promises of restoring their virginity.
The case was brought to the attention of members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice by a young woman who complained about the doctor’s threats to post her pictures if she refused to yield to his demands.
Worried about the dramatic situation, the young woman alerted the Commission and requested their help, local news site Al Marsad reported on Wednesday.
The doctor in the south western city of Khamis Mushait was arrested following a close monitoring by the authorities and his two mobiles were confiscated.
Several pictures of various women were stored in the phone memories, prompting the police to widen its investigation into the case.
The probe revealed that the doctor, a 41-year-old Saudi national, had an account on the social network, claiming that he was ready to restore the appearance of virginity, and stressing that he wanted to deal only with serious “patients”.
Investigators found equipment used for the virginity restoration purpose in his car and concluded that he used the online offer to blackmail young women. He was referred to the public prosecution for further investigations.
Virginity has a very special status in the conservative societies of several countries in Africa and Asia and goes well beyond the presence of a hymen to encompass the honour of the woman, her family and her community.
Hymenoplasty, the repair of hymens which, when intact, are widely recognized as evidence of virginity, has become a lucrative business for doctors in countries where the practice is tolerated.
Women afraid of terrible consequences for shaming the family with “unchaste behaviour” are often ready to pay large sums of money for the operation to have their hymen surgically repaired.
