Saudi Arabia: Religious police arrest married gay couples on honeymoon in Riyadh

Authorities in Saudi Arabia's capital Riyadh raided a flat, where two same-sex couples were found living together. The flat located in the Al Quds neighbourhood in the capital was raided by members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, also known as the Saudi religious police.

"As the religious police members arrived at the flat, they were spotted by two of the gays who tried to get rid of the fake breasts they were wearing", said sources, reported Sabq, a local news site. "The Commission members arrested and then detained the other two gays inside the flat. The four admitted they were living as 'married couples'.

"The first couple said that they got married two days earlier at a recreational facility south of Riyadh and that they were still on their honeymoon. The second couple said they celebrated their marriage last week. The four said they used the flat as their residence."

Amongst the items retained at the flat, included mobile phones with video clips of the wedding, where men could be seen dressed in female clothes with make-up. "Several women's dresses, bags, shoes, wigs, fake breasts as well as four bottles of locally produced liquor were found during a search of the flat," according to the local sources, reported Gulf News.

The men have been arrested and will be charged for engaging in homosexual activities and possessing alcohol and the hashish drug. Earlier reports had emerged over social media about gay weddings in Jeddah, however the local authorities there refuted the claims as baseless saying there were no reported cases.

Homosexuality is illegal under Sharia law and a serious offence in Saudi Arabia punishable by execution, imprisonment, fines and flogging. Saudi Arabia has insisted the UN removes gay rights from its list of global goals since homosexuality is "counter to Islamic law".

"Mentioning sex in the text, to us, means exactly male and female. Mentioning family means consisting of a married man and woman," Adel Al-Jubeir, the Saudi Foreign Minister told the UN General Assembly in 2015, reported The Independent. According to Saudi officials, calls for the Kingdom to support same-sex rights is "unacceptable [and a] flagrant interference in its internal affairs."

Earlier in 2014, a 24-year-old man was sentenced to 450 lashes and three years in prison after using his mobile phone to send out tweets in an effort to meet other gay men. The man was found posting "immoral" photographs along with messages on Twitter. He was caught by an undercover agent of the Saudi religious police.