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Saudi Arabia has arrested more than 50 suspects for crimes including prostitution and begging after Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the creation of a unit to police “immoral acts”, following years of loosening the kingdom’s hardline social restrictions.
The Ministry of Interior’s new unit — set up to address “community security and human trafficking” — has arrested 11 women for prostitution, the first time Saudi authorities have publicly acknowledged the existence of the practice in more than a decade.
It has also rounded up dozens of foreigners for “immoral acts” in massage parlours and for forcing women and children to work as street beggars.
The initiative has drawn comparisons with the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, a religious police force that was long notorious for harshly enforcing some of the world’s strictest gender segregation and moral codes before Prince Mohammed stripped it of many of its powers in 2016.
The de facto ruler has since pushed an aggressive agenda to diversify the economy and relax strict social and religious mores, such as by lifting decades-long bans on music concerts and cinemas. While the government announced a “public decency” law in 2019, it has not been strictly enforced.
Analysts said it was unclear what had triggered the crackdown. But Khalid al-Sulaiman, a columnist for the semi-official Okaz daily, wrote that the community security unit was set up in response to “notable increased activity” in alleged violations relating to 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 established over the years as a society dominated by high-level moral and social values,” he wrote last month.
“If such immoral and illegal practices were previously 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 the religious police but “without long beards”.
But other members of the public welcomed the move. “Cracking down on human trafficking is a good thing,” said Bandar, a 36-year-old father of three who did not want to give his last name. “Let them clean up the country.”
With the surge in new economic activities such as tourism, rapid social changes and the arrival of more foreign workers, authorities have found themselves dealing with an apparent rise in drug abuse and prostitution.
While data is scarce, anecdotal evidence has suggested that some easing of visa restrictions and of curbs on women’s liberty has enabled the sex trade.
The interior ministry said last month that the unit would combat “crimes that violate personal rights, infringe upon fundamental freedoms guaranteed by sharia law and the Kingdom’s legal system, or compromise individual dignity in any way”.
Analysts argue that presenting the unit as an effort to protect freedoms and rights can indicate the government wants to pre-empt criticism from human rights groups and western powers.
“Typically, the framing of such announcements would be around security rather than human rights,” said Sultan Alamer, a senior resident fellow at the Washington-based New Lines Institute.
The kingdom is expected to receive heightened scrutiny in the years ahead as it prepares to host major international events, including the 2034 football World Cup, and seeks to attract foreign investment.
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