JEDDAH - Star Academy2 winner Hisham Abdul Rahman was arrested on Thursday by the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, locally known as Mutawas, for creating what they called indecent gathering in the Kingdom Tower in Riyadh.

Hisham was surrounded by both male and female teenage fans who were shaking hands with him and kissing him, congratulating him on his new stardom. Members of the commission then moved in and asked Hisham to leave the tower due to the chaos and “immoral” — as they called it — acts that he was doing. A wordy duel ensued with Hisham calling the Mutawas names and threatening to harm them if they did not leave the place.

Arab News reported Members of the commission tried to pull Hisham by his hand out of the crowd. The crowd tried to pull the new singer back until his clothes were torn.

A member of the commission then managed to drag Hisham out by force and pushed him into their van. He was then taken to the commission’s office in Olaiya where he was questioned and held under custody.

The commission then received a direct order from a high official of the Riyadh governor’s office to send the singer out of Riyadh immediately.

Hisham was then escorted by the commission’s head to the airport and put on a plane to Jeddah.

Bander Al Mutairy, the head of Commission’s Olaya centre said that they had nothing personal against Hisham but he violated a rule and created an indecent crowd in the Tower Mall where young men and women gathered in an objectionable way and that had to stop.

A couple of news portals reported that Hisham’s passport was taken from him on his arrival at King Abdul Aziz Airport in Jeddah from Beirut after winning the reality TV Show Star Academy 2.

The portals said that Hisham was caught trying to smuggle in illegal stuff. A member of the airport customs said that Hisham was caught trying to smuggle in eight bottles of Whisky.

“He thought that he would be excluded from any inspection because he entered the country through the executive lounge, but his thoughts were wrong,” said the custom member who preferred not to mention his name.

The customs official denied that Hisham’s passport was taken away, but he said that the singer was questioned and fined.

After a popular of almost four months, the final episode of the popular show Star Academy 2, broadcast on the Lebanese Broadcasting Company (LBC) satellite channel, ended in Beirut recently with the victory of Hisham who defeated Tunisian contestant Amani Al Sweisi and took home a $50,000 reward and a Ford Mustang 2005 along with the title.

The competition proved to be a fierce one for Hisham, who won by a difference of 3.68 percent of votes. Hisham was considered a very humorous character, which is the main reason behind his popularity, and is the factor that enabled him to defeat all the original 15 contestants.

Hisham was placed in the nominee spot, which is referred to as the danger zone, several times, but was always saved by the enormous amount of votes he received mainly from people in Gulf countries. Hisham’s victory brought joy to Saudis, who had focused all their attention on the show and kept voting for Hisham via mobile messages and over the Internet to ensure that the title would be won by him, despite the opposition of some Saudis regarding the nature of the show, which they feel is inappropriate for Arabs. (Agencies)