US EditionWomen mount desperate escape bids from Saudi Arabia 'secret rehabilitation prisons' - The Mirror
- Hundreds of Saudi women are held in secretive facilities called Dar al-Reaya, described as care homes, prisons, or shelters, across Saudi Arabia as of 2025.
- These facilities, established several decades ago with the goal of reforming young female offenders, have since been repurposed to detain women deemed disobedient by their families for resisting male authority or sharing opinions online.
- Survivors report prison-like conditions including weekly flogging, forced religious instruction, physical abuse, isolation, denial of outside contact, and inability to leave without guardian approval.
- In 2016, 233 women were held across seven care homes; Saudi officials claim these are specialized shelters offering rehabilitation and deny allegations of abuse or enforced confinement.
- Despite reforms under Vision 2030 and a 2022 personal status law, critics argue these institutions enforce male guardianship, perpetuate discrimination, and undermine genuine progress on women's rights in Saudi Arabia.
18 Articles
18 Articles
Inhumane conditions in secret prisons for "disobedient" women revealed.
Shocking testimonies reveal the horrors experienced by girls and women in "care shelters" - Reports of torture, harassment and suicides behind a system of "punitive reform" - Watch video
Saudi Arabia placing women in ‘rehabilitation jails’
Saudi Arabia is placing women accused of being disobedient in care facilities with prison-like conditions to "rehabilitate" them, according to women who have spoken out about their experiences. The facilities, described as "care home" or Dar al-Reaya, see women subjected to weekly flogging, forced religious teachings, and barred from contact with the outside world, according to testimonies given to The Guardian. The publication reported that the…
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