Syria:

Saudi Arabia Politicizing Hajj Pilgrimage

Rasa - Syria announced that Saudi Arabia continues to impose crippling restrictions on Syrian nationals who seek to take part in this year’s Hajj pilgrimage, strongly criticizing the Arab kingdom for “politicizing” the annual holy Muslim event.

News ID: 431401

Date: 02 August 2017 - 21:10

RNA - According to presstv, in a statement released on Monday, the Syrian Ministry of Religious Endowments (Awqaf) said that the requirement to perform the religious duty was not ensured because it was being “politicized by the Wahhabi Saudi authorities despite the ministry’s repeated contacts with the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the Saudi Ministry of Hajj in this regard through the Syrian Foreign and Expatriates Ministry.”

Relations between Riyadh and Damascus have long been strained and the outbreak of militancy in Syria deteriorated the already difficult ties, as Saudi leaders supported and funded the armed opposition groups, which had entered a full-scale war with the government troops across the Arab country. In February 2012, Riyadh ultimately closed its diplomatic mission in Syria and expelled the Syrian ambassador from the Arab kingdom, severing its relations with Damascus altogether.

From that time forward, the move requires Syrians, who want to perform the Hajj rituals, to obtain visas in third countries through the so-called Syrian High Hajj Committee, which is run by the Saudi-backed Syrian National Coalition (SNC), dubbed by the Monday’s statement as “the enemies of the homeland.”

“What some tourism offices in Lebanon do with some Syrian citizens is not to facilitate the performance of the Hajj, but rather it is political and financial exploitation of the religious event by Saudi authorities through the so-called Supreme Hajj Committee of Syria,” the statement added.

Qatar's Foreign Minister also rebutted accusations by his Saudi counterpart Adel al-Jubeir that Qatar is trying to politicise the annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca.

Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister appeared to accuse Qatar on Sunday of politicising the issue and "declaring a war" against the kingdom by demanding the internationalisation of the Hajj.

The claim was rejected by Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani as he said "Qatar never politicised the issue of Hajj. It was Saudi Arabia trying to politicise the Hajj pilgrimage amid the [Persian] Gulf crisis."

He added that "there has been no suggestion by any Qatari official about internationalising the issue."

Jubeir was quoted by Al Arabiya's website as saying that "Qatar's demands to internationalise the holy sites is aggressive and a declaration of war against the kingdom... We reserve the right to respond to anyone who is working on the internationalisation of the holy sites."

In a separate statement in the Bahraini capital of Manama, Jubeir denied what he called claims that Saudi Arabia was trying to politicise the Hajj.

"We reject attempts by Qatar to politicise the issue and consider it disrespect to the Hajj and pilgrims,” he added.

Qatar accused Saudi Arabia of politicising the Hajj, claiming Riyadh has imposed restrictions on Qatari nationals planning to travel to Mecca for the annual Muslim pilgrimage.

Qatar's National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) said on Saturday that Qatari citizens have been told they can only enter Saudi Arabia through two airports, and that they must travel via Doha to be allowed in, Al-Jazeera reported.

This would be challenging for Qataris who do not live in Doha, such as those studying abroad.

The NHRC added that it has filed a complaint with the UN special rapporteur on freedom of belief and religion over the restrictions, which it said were in "stark violation of international laws and agreements that guarantee the right to worship".

The NHRC said it was "extremely concerned over [Saudi Arabia] politicising religious rituals and using [Hajj] to achieve political gains".

"The Saudi authorities have allowed the Qatari pilgrims to enter Saudi Arabia only through two airports via Qatar only, thus any Qatari citizen located outside Qatar, must first return to Qatar then travel to Saudi Arabia," it added.

The civil liberties group also announced that it will lodge a second complaint against Saudi Arabia with UNESCO for subjecting Qatari nationals to harassment and threats in Saudi territory.

During the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, the group claimed that officials in Saudi Arabia forced Qataris who were visiting religious sites to leave their hotel rooms. Unable to fly on commercial flights, which had been blocked from travelling from Saudi Arabia to Qatar, they were forced to use charter flights.

The Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani has recently described the recent blockade by a Saudi-led group of Arab countries against Qatar as "pre-planned campaign", adding that Doha is ready for dialogue to resolve a diplomatic crisis with Arab states.

Meanwhile, Qatari Foreign Minister has also announced that the small Persian Gulf emirate was willing to hold constructive talks with Arab rivals if they stopped meddling in its home affairs.

Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt cut off diplomatic ties with Qatar early June, and suspended air and sea communication one week after the Arab Islamic American Summit in Riyadh, accusing Doha of supporting terrorist organizations and destabilizing the situation in the Middle East.

Qatar rejected claims by a Saudi-led bloc of countries that it “finances terrorism” and intervenes in their internal affairs.

After more than two weeks, on June 22, the Saudi-led bloc gave Qatar a 10 days to comply with 13 demands, which included shutting down the Al-Jazeera Media Network, closing a Turkish military base and scaling down ties with Iran.

Through Kuwait, which has been acting as intermediary, Qatar officially responded to the new deadline, as Doha stressed that the demands by Saudi Arabia and its allies were impossible to meet.

Foreign Ministers from the bloc of countries boycotting Qatar released a statement, saying Doha’s rejection of the demands “proved” its link with terrorism. Top diplomats of the boycotting countries also added that the list of the collective demands was now void and they pledged further political, economic, and legal steps against Qatar.

Qatar had announced that Doha will not meet any of the 13 demands made by Saudi Arabia and its allies, offering instead "a proper condition for a dialogue" to resolve the [Persian] Gulf crisis, accused Saudi Arabia and its regional allies of "demanding that we must surrender our sovereignty as the price for ending the siege".

But Riyadh reiterated that its demands to Qatar to end the stand-off in the [Persian] Gulf were "non-negotiable".

Qatar is supported by Turkey and Iran while Russia stressed that Moscow would do "everything possible" to help resolve the crisis, while the US, UK and other Western countries have dispatched senior envoys to the region to press both sides to resolve the dispute.

The split among the Arab states erupted after US President Donald Trump visited Riyadh where he accused Iran of "destabilizing interventions" in Arab lands.

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