Dubai police have made a number of arrests for public debauchery over a naked group photoshoot for an Israeli website.
Media reports say that 15 naked models were caught posing for the Israeli version of an unnamed U.S. adult website.
Violations of the public decency law in the United Arab Emirates, including for nudity and other “lewd behaviour,” carry penalties of up to six months in prison and a 5,000 dirham (£983) fine.
The sharing of pornographic material is also punishable with prison time and a fine of up to 500,000 dirhams under the country’s laws, which are based on Islamic law.
Late on Saturday, videos and photographs depicting over a dozen naked women lined up on a balcony while being filmed in Dubai Marina in broad daylight were splashed across social media.
“Such unacceptable behaviours do not reflect the values and ethics of Emirati society,” a police statement said.
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Eight months ago the United Arab Emirates agreed to normalise relations with Israel in exchange for Tel Aviv agreeing to suspend its attempts to annex parts of the occupied West Bank.
The UAE became the third Arab country to reach a peace agreement with Israel, after Jordan and Egypt in 1994 and 1979 respectively. Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan would soon follow suit.
The two nations said the peace would be a “warm peace” with people-to-people exchanges rather than a cold peace such as that between some other Muslim nations and Israel.
Palestinian movement Hamas spokesman has said the “normalisation” was a reward to the occupiers for their crimes against Palestinians.
