: Religious Police Prevent Girls From Escaping Burning School

What kind of people would keep children from escaping a burning building? Saudi Arabia’s religious police, that’s who. 15 schoolgirls died an a school fire in Mecca in part because the mutaween would not let them leave without the proper clothing, even going so far as to battle firemen who were rushing to the scene. One witness saw three mutaween “beating young girls to prevent them from leaving the school because they were not wearing the abaya.” The father of one of the dead girls charged that the school watchman even refused to open the gate to let the girls out.

Shahed Amanullah is editor-in-chief of altmuslim.com.