( CNN ) -- Saudi Arabia has asked florists and gift shops to remove all red items until after Valentine 's Day , calling the celebration of such a holiday a sin , local media reported Monday . With a ban on red gift items over Valentine 's Day in Saudi Arabia , a black market in red roses has flowered . `` As Muslims we should n't celebrate a non-Muslim celebration , especially this one that encourages immoral relations between unmarried men and women , `` Sheikh Khaled Al-Dossari , a scholar in Islamic studies , told the Saudi Gazette , an English-language newspaper . Every year , officials with the conservative Muslim kingdom 's Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice clamp down on shops a few days before February 14 , instructing them to remove red roses , red wrapping paper , gift boxes and teddy bears . On the eve of the holiday , they raid stores and seize symbols of love . The virtue and vice squad is a police force of several thousand charged with , among other things , enforcing dress codes and segregating the sexes . Saudi Arabia , which follows a strict interpretation of Islam called Wahhabism , punishes unrelated women and men who mingle in public . Ahmed Al-Omran , a university student in Riyadh , told CNN that the government decision will give the international media another reason to make fun of the Saudis `` but I think that we got used to that by now . '' `` I think what they are doing is ridiculous , '' said Al-Omran , who maintains the blog 'Saudi Jeans . ' `` What the conservatives in this country need to learn is something called 'tolerance . ' If they do n't see the permissibility of celebrating such an occasion , then fine -- they should not celebrate it . But they have to know they have no right to impose their point of view on others . '' Because of the ban on red roses , a black market has flowered ahead of Valentine 's Day . Roses that normally go for five Saudi riyal ( $ 1.30 ) fetch up to 30 riyal ( $ 8 ) on February 14 , the Saudi Gazette said . `` Sometimes we deliver the bouquets in the middle of the night or early morning , to avoid suspicion , '' one florist told the paper . Saudi Arabia has often come under criticism for its treatment of women , most recently in a United Nations report that blasted the kingdom for widespread discrimination . Under Saudi law , women are subject to numerous restrictions , including a prohibition against driving and a requirement that they get a man 's permission to travel or have surgery . A businesswoman told the Times of London this month that she was detained and strip-searched by the religious police for holding a meeting in a coffee shop with male colleagues . Two years ago , a teenager was raped by seven men who found her alone with a man unrelated to her . The government sentenced the 19-year-old woman to 200 lashes and six months in prison for being in the company of a man who was n't a family member or her husband . She was later pardoned . The seven rapists were sentenced to two to nine years in prison . E-mail to a friend . CNN 's Saeed Ahmed contributed to this report .
Saudi Arabia has banned red gift items like red roses until after Valentine 's Day . Comment: Celebration seen as encouraging immoral relations between the unmarried .