Brave Saudi Woman Confronts Religious Police

A brave Saudi woman confronted members of the country's religious police after they accused of breaking strict modesty rules with her freshly painted nails.

The woman, who has not been identified, refuses their demands that she leave the mall where she is shopping and tells them that her nails are 'none of [their] business'.

After she filmed the incident on her mobile phone and it was posted it to YouTube, her row with the members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (CPVPV) has gone viral.

It has ignited a debate in Saudi Arabia over the way that members of the commission should deal with people in public places.

The video shows several men in traditional Saudi dress, who have apparently stopped the woman to chastise her for the immodesty of her freshly manicured nails.

One of the men orders the woman to leave the mall, but she refuses and the pair become embroiled in a heated argument in the middle of the mall's concourse.

'The government didn't send you to follow me,' she yells at the men. 'The government said there would be no persecution [of women]

'Your job is to advise people and move on. You have no right to harass anyone.'

Known as the mutaween, or religious police, members of the CPVPV are granted power to enforce Sharia Law in Saudi Arabia by the order of King Abdullah himself.

They are known for their callous brutality and strict interpretation of Islamic law. In 2002 mutaween reportedly stopped girls from escaping their burning school because they were 'not properly covered'.

They locked the doors of the school from the outside and attacked firefighters to stop them from entering the building to rescue the girls.

Fourteen of the youngsters died of burns or smoke asphyxiation. Since then the powers of the mutaween have been curtailed but they still have a powerful hold over Saudi society.

Perhaps fearing she would come to a similar sticky end, the woman who took them to task in the recent film sought the help of the mall's security guards.

'I don't trust them,' she told the guards, according to the Saudi Gazette. 'They may hit me with their car.'

'You are not responsible for me and have no right to ask me why I have manicured nails!'

The security guards try to allay her fears and tell her to listen to the commission member, who they say is a good man, the Gazette reported.

Nevertheless, she tells them: 'I will publish this video on Twitter and Facebook so the Hai’a Chief Sheikh Abdullatif Al-Asheikh may see your behavior.

'You are not responsible for me and have no right to ask me why I have manicured nails!'

The woman's actions have incited a mini-revolution in Saudi Arabia, with many comments on YouTube in support of her stance.

An official investigation has been opened into the incident, the Gazette reported.