Emirates police ask: marriage license, please
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}SHARJAH, United Arab Emirates (AP) — 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.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}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.