"Inappropriate displays of affection, mixing between unmarried men and women and offensive writing are a few of the crimes the Saudi religious police are tasked with monitoring, and they appear to be on the rise if recent arrest rates are anything to go by. A report issued by the Saudi religious police indicated a remarkable increase in the number of arrests as well as in the type of cases it dealt with over the past year, local press reported Tuesday, with 19 percent more arrests this year than last." (Compare this to the article from Saudi Arabia yesterday in the New York Times by Robert Worth in which he leaves you with the impression that the religious police has practically disappeared from view). (thanks Olivia)