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Saudi Arabia: Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has projected himself as a modernizer by giving women driving rights and limited freedoms. But behind this image lies a darker reality. Secret facilities known as “care homes” or Dal Al Reaya function more like prisons than safe shelters. Women sent here face extreme punishment, often just for defying male relatives. What appears like reform from the outside hides a hidden system of control and cruelty.
Women are not sent to these centers for crimes recognized internationally, but for disobedience to men. A daughter who argues with her father, or a wife who displeases her husband, can be forced into confinement. Girls who ran away from home or formed relationships outside marriage are treated worst of all. Instead of rehabilitation, they are broken mentally and physically. Their dignity is stripped away in the name of honor and obedience.
Testimonies describe terrifying practices. On arrival, women are stripped naked and searched in degrading ways. Virginity tests are conducted without consent, a violation condemned by human rights groups worldwide. Survivors say women are flogged weekly, drugged to keep them subdued, and cut off from the outside world. Even small acts like speaking to another detainee can bring accusations of being “immoral” or “lesbian,” followed by more beatings. Such cruelty is normalized under the name of correction.
The goal is not rehabilitation but submission. Former inmates say women are pushed until their personalities are destroyed. They are told daily that obedience is the only path back home. Religious indoctrination replaces education, and physical pain enforces silence. Families accept these centers as places to “fix” women, never seeing the hidden torture. Many detainees lose hope and accept whatever conditions are forced upon them, just to be released.
Sara Al Yahya, a young Saudi woman who escaped, told The Guardian that almost every girl fears Dal Al Reaya. She described how inmates were flogged, drugged, and treated as less than human. Her voice gave rare insight into the secretive centers. She explained that even girls who never disobeyed but were accused falsely could end up trapped there. Such testimonies have revealed the scale of systemic abuse that was once hidden from global eyes.
The fear of Dal Al Reaya is so intense that some girls attempt suicide rather than be taken inside. Earlier this year, a video went viral showing a woman clinging to a window, trying to escape one such facility. Risking death seemed better than living another day under its cruelty. These desperate acts show that the centers are not shelters, but prisons where hope dies.
For the world, these revelations expose the deep contradiction in Mohammed bin Salman’s reforms. While he sells an image of modernization abroad, inside his country women still suffer medieval punishments. Internationally, Saudi Arabia faces growing criticism for these abuses. Human rights groups are demanding accountability, but fear silences many victims. The truth from Dal Al Reaya reminds us that freedom for Saudi women remains an unfinished battle, hidden behind gilded promises of progress.
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