As Saudi Arabia gears up to host the 2034 men’s World Cup, women in the country face physical abuse and terror for refusing to obey the rules in the secretive Dar al-Reaya institutions
Women and girls are being kept in secret ‘jails’ and tortured with weekly floggings for disobedience, running away from home or having extramarital sex, shock new reports have claimed.
Saudi Arabia’s Dar al-Reaya institutions hold hundreds of women and girls who have been banished by their families for ‘crimes’ such as giving shelter to another woman fleeing abuse, or posting about women’s rights on social media.
Inside the ‘care homes’, which were set up in the Middle Eastern kingdom in the 1960s, inmates face being lashed in public if they are caught not praying or being alone with another female inmate – and accused of being lesbians, which in Saudi Arabia is illegal and punishable by death.
Sometimes held behind locked doors for years, the only way out is by suicide, acquiescing to marriage or by promising to abide by the conditions set by the men who sent them there – who may well have already abused them.
“These women have no one. They could be abandoned for years, even without committing a crime,” a Saudi women’s rights activist, who wishes to remain anonymous, told the Guardian.
“The only way out is through a male guardian, marriage or jumping off the building. Old men or former convicts who did not find a bride would look for a bride in these institutions. Some women would accept this as the only way out.”
In pictures posted by lwatan.com, one woman wearing a black abaya can be seen balancing precariously on a second-storey windowsill of a building, thought to be one of these ‘care homes’ in north-west Saudi Arabia.
A second photo shows the woman surrounded by men who carry her off the ledge and into a cherry-picker. While the woman’s identity is unknown, sources claim she was allegedly being held in one of the notorious jails.
Even speaking in public or sharing footage of the Dar al-Reaya is punishable in the strict country, which executed at least 309 people in 2024 – the highest number since 2015.
And those who are brave enough to speak up for women’s rights often find themselves silenced, with threats of imprisonment, travel bans preventing them from leaving the country and being slapped with hefty fines.
The Saudi government claims the care homes provide “shelter for girls accused or convicted of various crimes who are aged less than 30”. Khaled Abalkhail, spokesman for Ministry of Labor and Social Development, added that the inmates “receive mental health services at the institute and are seen by psychiatrists and professional staff”, who “rehabilitate” them “in order to return them to their family”.
But activists say the women can be kept there, without trial, for as long as it takes them “to accept the rules”.
Once inside, the women are subjected to humiliating flogging sessions, in full view of the male guards, forced to attend religious teachings and prevented from leaving or having any contact with the outside world.
Activist Sarah Al-Yahia, 38, who has launched a campaign from exile to abolish the Dar al-Reaya, told the Guardian that she has spoken to a number of girls who claim they were subjected to intimate strip-searches and invasive virginity tests when they first arrived.
The inmates also said they were sedated to put them to sleep.
“They call each other by numbers. ‘Number 35, come here.’ When one of the girls shared her family name, she got lashes,” said Sarah. “If she doesn’t pray, she gets lashes. If she is found alone with another woman she gets lashes and is accused of being a lesbian. The guards gather and watch when the girls are being lashed.”
Sarah alleges she was threatened with being sent to Dar al-Reaya from the age of 13 by her sexually abusive father.
“They make it impossible for others to help women fleeing abuse. I know a woman who was sentenced to six months in jail because she helped a victim of violence. Giving shelter in the case of a woman charged for ‘absenteeism’ is a crime in Saudi Arabia.
“If 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’s reputation,” she added.
It comes as Saudi Arabia gears up to host Fifa’s men’s football World Cup in 2034 after it became the sole bidder for the prestigious tournament. Human rights agencies have criticised Fifa for its decision, with Amnesty International warning that workers “will be exploited and even die” without fundamental reforms in the country.