Sharjah, April 23: Police in the conservative Sharjah emirate are hunting for unmarried couples sharing the same address.
The door-to-door search is the latest effort by Sharjah authorities to enforce Islamic codes in their enclave, which borders far more freewheeling Dubai. The campaign, detailed Thursday in local media, follows a police report that a couple was arrested for living together out of wedlock.
Violators may face jail and deportation. But Shariah, or Islamic law, remains on the books and includes possible sentences of lashings.
The UAE outlaws unmarried couples from living together, but Sharjah enforces the strictest rules. The emirate — one of seven that comprise the UAE — also imposes a blanket ban on alcohol.
Sharjah’s Police recently arrested a man for wearing a lungi as part of a crackdown on the attire in public.
The lungi is a piece of brightly colored silk or cotton cloth that is wrapped around the waist. It is worn in India, Pakistan, Myanmar and other South Asian countries.
Sharjah Police said that indecent and revealing clothes are not allowed in public.
–Agencies