Saudi Arabia has detained a hotel worker who filmed himself eating breakfast with a female colleague, the country’s labour ministry has said.
The owner of the hotel has also been summoned for questioning, according to the ministry.
The footage, which has been shared widely on social media, shows a woman dressed in a burqa eating breakfast with a man and, at one point, feeding him some food.
Despite a host of modernising reforms introduced in the kingdom in recent months by Prince Mohammed bin Salman, including allowing women to drive, the country remains deeply conservative.
A statement released by the labour ministry on Sunday said inspectors had visited the unidentified hotel in the western city of Mecca and detained the man, who is from Egypt, for violations including working in a profession restricted to Saudis.
The hotel owner was also summoned “for failing to adhere to spatial controls for employing women”, the statement added.
Government regulations stipulate that workplaces should have a separate setting for women, but many businesses do not abide by the rules.
The public prosecutor later issued a statement urging foreigners to adhere to the kingdom’s laws and respect its values and traditions.
Reuters contributed to this report
