“HELLISH” Saudi prisons are housing banished wives in nightmare conditions and subjecting them to floggings so they can be taught “obedience”.
Several women inmates at the grim jailhouses spoke out about being sent to punishment facilities for “not obeying” sexual abuse at home.
They are reportedly locked away in isolation cells until they “reconcile” with their cruel abusers.
Other harrowing details of the prisons’ conditions continue to plague its dreaded reputation.
According to rights group ALQST, documented instances reveal signs of abuse and neglect, malnutrition, inadequate health and hygiene, and instances of mistreatment and brutality.
They also accused Dar al-Re’aya prisons of excessive use of solitary confinement and denigration of their inmates.
Several cases of suicide attempts in recent years have also been reported
The name of the jails, Dar al-Re’aya, literally translates to “care homes”.
Sarah Al-Yahia, a campaigner striving to eliminate the brutal homes, shared with the Guardian that her father used to threaten sending her to one such facility during her childhood “if I didn’t obey his sexual abuse”.
She courageously stated: “If you are sexually abused or become pregnant by your brother or father, you are the one sent to Dar al-Re’aya to protect the family’s reputation.”
She added that often women are put between the impossible choice of enduring horrific abuse at home or living in gruelling conditions inside the camp.
The care homes have existed since the 1960s and were initially presented as a rehabilitative “shelter” for women accused or convicted of certain crimes.
The infamous cells house women between the ages of just seven years old and 30.
But women’s rights groups today warn that the notorious prisons serve mainly as detention facilities for young girls and women.
And these female inmates are accused of having “become delinquent or have been accused by their male guardians of disobedience”.
Another Saudi women who fled into exile said that these jails are well-known across the country.
She said: “It’s like hell.
“I tried to end my life when I found out I was going to be taken to one.
She added: “I knew what happened to women there and thought ‘I can’t survive it.”
The 38-year-old said that inmates are subject to strip searches and even virginity tests on arrival.
They are also given sedatives to put them to sleep.
Inmates are also addressed by numbers, not names, the exile woman said.
Women’s Aid
Women’s Aid has this advice for victims and their families:
- Always keep your phone nearby.
- Get in touch with charities for help, including the Women’s Aid live chat helpline and services such as SupportLine.
- If you are in danger, call 999.
- Familiarise yourself with the Silent Solution, reporting abuse without speaking down the phone, instead dialing “55”.
- Always keep some money on you, including change for a pay phone or bus fare.
- If you suspect your partner is about to attack you, try to go to a lower-risk area of the house – for example, where there is a way out and access to a telephone.
- Avoid the kitchen and garage, where there are likely to be knives or other weapons. Avoid rooms where you might become trapped, such as the bathroom, or where you might be shut into a cupboard or other small space.
If you are a victim of domestic abuse, SupportLine is open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 6pm to 8pm on 01708 765200. The charity’s email support service is open weekdays and weekends during the crisis – messageinfo@supportline.org.uk.
Women’s Aid provides a live chat service – available weekdays from 8am-6pm and weekends 10am-6pm.
You can also call the freephone 24-hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0808 2000 247.
She recalled that one woman was lashed for shared her family name instead of her number.
“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,” she explained.
“The guards gather and watch when the girls are being lashed.”
Chilling footage also showed the moment a female inmate appeared to try and escape the hellish cells.
They desperately climbed up onto the roof in order to get out of the prisons.
In 2015, a woman was found to have hanged herself from the ceiling of her room at one of the Dar al-Re’aya prisons.
She left behind a written note saying: “I decided to die to escape hell.”
A staff member at another shelter was quoted as having said that children suffer the worst kind of psychological and physical torture.
According to Arab News, they said: “With my own eyes I saw a worker beating on a child not more than 13 years of age.”
Women have also reportedly been killed shortly after their release.
One woman also told the Guardian that she was taken to Dar al-Re’aya after complaining about her dads and brothers.
She was then allegedly abused at the prison and accused of bringing shame upon her family for her social media posts touting women’s rights.
She was held in the institution until her dad agreed she could be released – despite him being the alleged abuser.
Girls and women can only be released from Dar al-Re’aya into the custody of a male relative, ALQST reported.
Women have previously been described being made to stand for six hours in one sitting as a punishment for disobedience.
Data is rarely released about the facilities.
In 2016, there were reportedly 233 girls and women held in seven facilities across the Arab kingdom.
