DUBAI: Saudi Arabia's Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice has reportedly busted a group of women accused of prostitution in the ultra-conservative gulf kingdom. According to the daily Sharq newspaper, the Islamic police arrested 10 Asian women for allegedly “practicing prostitution.” Among the arrested are four employees of a large hospital in the country. In the statement, published by the newspaper, the “Vice Committee” had reportedly “watched some of the girls for a few days before deciding to raid the apartment” in the Western city of Jeddah. A Commission undercover posing as a customer phoned the ring leader and told her he wanted a woman. “She asked him to come to the apartment and pick the girl he likes … once he was in, the other Commission members stormed the flat and arrested 10 Asian women,” Sharq said in its report. It said four of the those arrested are employees at a company managing a key government hospital in Jeddah, the country's second largest city. The paper did not identify the defendants. Local sources told Bikyamasr.com that the “house” where the girls were staying was run by a member of the royal family and had, according to one local resident, “been visited by so many men on a regular basis.” The source added that “the girls were under basic slavery and were not allowed to leave the house even if they wanted to.” No men were reportedly arrested in the raid. The women could face the death penalty if convicted of prostitution. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/MXQmj Tags: Jeddah, Morality Police, Prostitution Section: Human Rights, Latest News, Saudi Arabia, Women
