{"id":1539164,"date":"2025-05-31T19:10:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-31T23:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/?p=1539164"},"modified":"2025-05-31T19:10:00","modified_gmt":"2025-05-31T23:10:00","slug":"saudi-women-held-in-hellish-rehab-centers-for-disobedience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/saudi-women-held-in-hellish-rehab-centers-for-disobedience\/1539164\/","title":{"rendered":"Saudi Women Held In ‘Hellish’ Rehab Centers For ‘Disobedience’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Saudi Women Held In ‘Hellish’ Rehab Centers For ‘Disobedience’<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Via Middle East Eye<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Hundreds of\u00a0Saudi\u00a0women are being held in \u201chellish\u201d conditions in secretive care homes<\/strong>, used to \u201crehabilitate\u201d women banished by their families<\/strong>, according to a\u00a0report<\/a>\u00a0in the Guardian<\/em>. Over a period of six months, the Guardian collected testimonies about conditions in the care homes, known as Dar al-Reaya.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The homes are where women are sent by their families or husbands for alleged disobedience<\/strong>, extramarital sexual relations<\/strong> or absence from home.\u00a0Conditions were described to the Guardian as \u201chellish\u201d, and included weekly floggings<\/strong>, forced religious teaching and a ban on any contact with the outside world.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sarah al-Yahia, who lives in exile and campaigns for the abolition of the homes, said she had spoken to a number of inmates about life in the homes.\u00a0The women and girls described several abuses, including being given sedatives to put them to sleep, strip searches and virginity tests<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

One woman described getting lashes for not praying, and also getting lashes and being accused of lesbianism for being alone with another woman.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yahia herself was threatened by her father that she would be sent to one of the facilities when she was 13.\u00a0\u201cMy father used it as a threat if I didn\u2019t obey his sexual abuse,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI know a woman who was sentenced to six months in jail because she helped a victim of violence,\u201d Yahia added.\u00a0\u201cIf you are sexually abused or get pregnant by your brother or father you are the one sent to Dar al-Reaya to protect the family\u2019s reputation.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

‘Utterly alone and terrified’<\/strong><\/p>\n

There have been\u00a0reports<\/a>\u00a0of women committing or attempting to commit suicide due to the abusive conditions, according to rights group Alqst.\u00a0Saudi officials\u00a0describe<\/a>\u00a0the institutions as \u201cshelter for girls accused or convicted of various crimes who are aged less than 30\u201d<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It says that they serve to \u201crehabilitate the female inmates in time of entering the facility in order to return them to their family\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Amina, whose name was changed for security reasons, said she sought refuge in a care home in Buraydah, central Saudi Arabia, after being beaten by her father.\u00a0She found staff at the home to be \u201ccold and unhelpful\u201d, and belittling of her experience.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Amina said that the facility asked her and her father to write down \u201cconditions\u201d. Her conditions included not being beaten or forced into marriage.\u00a0However, she said once she was released, the beatings continued, and she was later forced into exile.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember being utterly alone and terrified. I felt like a prisoner in my own home, with no one to protect me, no one to defend me,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Another woman told the Guardian that she was held in Dar al-Reaya after she told the police that she had been abused by her father and brothers.\u00a0She said she was held there until her father agreed for her to be released, despite the fact that her father was the alleged abuser.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they are serious about advancing women\u2019s rights, they must abolish these discriminatory practices and allow the establishment of genuine shelters that protect, rather than punish, those who have experienced abuse,\u201d Nadyeen Abdulaziz, of Alqst, said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Allegations denied<\/strong><\/p>\n

A Saudi spokesperson rejected claims of enforced confinement and mistreatment in the facilities.\u00a0\u201cThese are not detention centers, and any allegation of abuse is taken seriously and subject to thorough investigation,\u201d the spokesperson told the Guardian.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Image source: Bloomberg<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWomen are free to leave at any time, whether to attend school, work, or other personal activities, and may exit permanently whenever they choose with no need of approval from a guardian or family member.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since taking de-facto control of the kingdom in 2017, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has overseen a widespread crackdown on dissent, even as he pushed several nominally liberalising reforms<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Those reforms include allowing women to drive, and relaxing restrictions preventing women from travelling without the consent of a male guardian. However in recent years, Saudi Arabia has jailed several women who have spoken out against women’s rights and human rights abuses in the country.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In May 2023,\u00a0Fatima al-Shwarabi<\/a>\u00a0was given a 30-year sentence for anonymously tweeting about political prisoners, women’s rights and unemployment. Last January, Saudi activist and fitness instructor\u00a0Manahel al-Otaibi<\/a>\u00a0was sentenced to 11 years for promoting women\u2019s rights on social media.<\/p>\n

Salma al-Shehab<\/a>, a Leeds University doctoral candidate and women’s rights activist who was handed down a decades-long sentence for her tweets in 2022, was\u00a0released<\/a>\u00a0this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span>
\nSat, 05\/31\/2025 – 15:10<\/span><\/p>\n

\u200bhttps:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/geopolitical\/saudi-women-held-hellish-rehab-centers-disobedience<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Saudi Women Held In ‘Hellish’ Rehab Centers For ‘Disobedience’ Via Middle East Eye Hundreds of\u00a0Saudi\u00a0women are being held in \u201chellish\u201d conditions in secretive care homes,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1539165,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1539164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1539164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1539164"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1539164\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1539165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1539164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1539164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1539164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}