The reason: Saudi men have been reported to use the high tech phones to surreptitiously photograph women.

Religious police have already confiscated shipments of the new cellular phones. Officials said Saudi women had complained that young Saudi men were slipping the devices into facilities reserved for women and secretly taking photographs, Middle East Newsline reported.

Religious police chief Ibrahim Al Ghaith, has urged the kingdom to ban the phones. The phones are being distributed by numerous dealers, including Saudi Ericsson, where they are said to be a popular item among Saudi men.

Saudi officials do not expect a decision to ban the cellular phones.

They are capable of taking more than 280 digital photographs and cost more than $400.

One concern is that Saudi men have slipped the cellular phones into wedding halls reserved for women. Saudi Arabia is a segregated society and women in public are completely covered by a veil and robe.

Authorities said they would arrest those using the cellular phones to photograph women. So far, no arrests have been reported. Saudi clerics and their supporters have tried to ban developments in technology on grounds that they could be used to violate Islamic law. These include such appliances as telephones, mobile phones, satellite television and the Internet.

"Of course it may be misused by some wicked people but they are very small in number," Saudi analyst Ahmad Al Sinani told the English-language Arab News. "We should not exaggerate things."

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World Tribune article

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