View of Beirut and the Beirut Port. (Archive photo: Mohammad Yassin/L'Orient Today)
BEIRUT — Internal Security Forces (ISF) announced Friday that they had arrested nine women, all foreign nationals, allegedly involved in a prostitution ring in a hotel located in the Sodeco district of central Beirut. The group includes six Brazilian nationals, two Uzbek nationals, and one Moldovan national. Sums of money from prostitution activities were also seized in their possession. During questioning, the nine arrested women “admitted to engaging in prostitution and working within an organized network, led by two individuals who are outside Lebanese territory. They are known by the pseudonyms ‘Yulia’ and ‘Max,’” police said.
Meanwhile, the unidentified hotel owner and two of his employees were also arrested after law enforcement determined they were “aware of the prostitution activities taking place within the establishment.”
Clandestine prostitution is prohibited by law in Lebanon. According to Article 523 of the penal code, “any person who practices or facilitates covert prostitution is sentenced” to a prison term of one to three years and a fine of two to four times the minimum wage. Between 2015 and 2023, the ISF arrested 1,171 Syrian prostitutes, 380 migrants (former domestic workers from Africa or Asia), 268 Lebanese, 121 Eastern Europeans, 65 Palestinians and 49 stateless individuals.
