Manama: Police in Saudi Arabia have arrested four foreigners for organising a mixed party in a compound south of the capital Riyadh.
A spokesperson for the police said that the arrests were made after they received tips about the party during which alcoholic beverages were served.
Acting on the information, the police arrested a Lebanese man who organised the party and referred him to the investigators, Saudi news site Sabq reported on Sunday.
His three accomplices, a Syrian, a Palestinian and a Jordanian who helped with the organisation, promoted the party, and sold the admission tickets were arrested.
The four Arabs were referred to the public prosecution for further investigations.
Saudi Arabia has a very strict policy about the mixing of unrelated men and women and the sale or serving of alcohol.
Courts have traditionally sentenced them men found guilty in cases related to “depraved parties” to prison terms and lashes.
In October 2014, a local court sentenced the main suspect in holding a “depraved party” in which college girls took part to two years in jail and 500 lashes.
The defendant was flogged at the college attended by the girls who were at the party held at a rented recreation area in western Saudi Arabia.
The police, acting on a tip about a mixed party being organised in the area, arrested 15 girls, all university students, and five young men for their participation.
The five men were each sentenced to eight months in prison and to 99 lashes, but none of the girls was punished.
Most social media users supported the court verdicts, but some comments said that the punishment should not be confined to the men and that the girls should also face legal action.
