Saudi Arabian Police Beating Women at Orphanage

Activists on Tuesday, August 29, circulated a video showing Saudi security men brutally assaulting a group of women at an orphanage in Saudi Arabia’s Southwest.

The video, first posted on Twitter, shows dozens of men dressed in security uniform and others in Saudi national dress chasing women, beating them with wooden sticks and lashing them with leather belts. The video then shows a man dragging one of the women by her hair as she screams, while another beats her with a belt.

Saudi human rights advocates denounced the video as more evidence of the Saudi government’s suppression of women rights in the kingdom under the rule of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Since becoming the kingdom’s de-facto ruler in 2017, the crown prince has overseen a widespread crackdown on dissent, despite promoting himself as a leader of liberal reforms.

The crackdown has targeted members of the political opposition, Shia Muslims, as well as female activists who called for an end to discriminatory policies and social practices against women.

Freemuslim asks Saudi authorities to create platforms for Saudi citizens to share their constructive criticisms about the human rights abuses so the concerns of citizens can be addressed properly and also allow people to become positive contributors towards the laws than need to be changed. Crackdown on orphanages only relays a negative image in the eyes of orphans who are also part of the future of Saudi Arabia. Police brutality continues to  be an issue in Saudi Arabia and we ask the international community to unite in order to put an end to shameful brutality of military forces upon people.

More importantly; men arresting women or touching women in general is forbidden by Islamic Law, and it is saddening to witness a country that has woman police forces use men to arrest women regardless of why the arrest is being done. We encourage countries which use the name of “Islamic” as their country’s law to at least adhere to Islamic Laws.