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Saudi Arabia has arrested more than 50 suspects in crimes, including prostitution and begging after crown prince Mohamed bin Salman ordered the creation of a unit in the “immoral acts” of the police after the years of release of the kingdom’s social restrictions.
Ministry of Interior – set up to address “community security and trafficking in human beings” – has arrested 11 women for prostitution, the first time Saudi authorities have publicly acknowledged the existence of practice in more than a decade.
She has also rounded up dozens of strangers for “immoral acts” in massage halls and forcing women and children to work as street beggars.
The Initiative has attracted comparisons with the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, a religious force of the police that was very infamous for the fierce implementation of some of the most strict gender division in the world and the moral codes before Prince Mohamed to remove it from many of its powers in 2016.
Since then, the de facto ruler has pushed an aggressive agenda to diversify the economy and rest more strict social and religious mourning, such as removing decades at music concerts and cinema. While the government announced a “public determination” law in 2019, it has not been strictly implemented.
Analysts said it was unclear what caused the blow. But Khalid al-Sulaiman, a columnist for a semi-official okaz daily, wrote that the community security unit was set up in response to the “apparent increased activity” in violations of morality and sex, including advertising for such activities on social media platforms.
“Our country has a special religious and social identity as the birthplace of Islam, and no one should distort the image of Saudi society that has been created over the years as a society dominated by high level moral and social values,” he wrote last month.
“If such immoral and illegal practices had previously been done in secret, those who practice them today should never feel that they can appear in public without consequences.”
Some Saudi social media users have suggested that the community security unit represents a return of religious police but “without a long beard”.
But other members of the public welcomed the move. “To hit human trafficking is a good thing,” said Bandar, a 36-year-old father of three children who did not want to give his surname. “Let them clean the place.”
With the rise of new economic activities such as tourism, rapid social changes and the arrival of more foreign workers, authorities have found themselves dealing with a significant increase in drug abuse and prostitution.
While the data is scarce, the anecdotal evidence has suggested that some facilitation of visa and curve restrictions on women have enabled sex trade.
The Ministry of Interior said last month that the unit will fight “Crimes that violate personal rights, violate fundamental freedoms guaranteed by the Shari’ah law and the Kingdom’s legal system, or compromise individual dignity in any way.”
Analysts argue that the introduction of the unit as an attempt to protect freedoms and rights can indicate that the government wants to predict criticism from human rights groups and Western powers.
“Typically, framing such reports would be about security than human rights,” said Sultan Alamer, an elderly associate at the Washington -based New Lines Institute.
The kingdom is expected to receive a control raised in the coming years as it prepares to host major international events, including the 2034 Football World Cup, and seeks to attract foreign investment.
