Qatar to File Complaint at UN over Saudi Obstacles on Hajj Pilgrims

Doha is due to lodge a complaint with the UN against restrictions imposed on Qatari pilgrims amid the diplomatic spat between the Persian Gulf nation and a Saudi-led bloc of Arab countries.

News ID: 443593

Date: 23 February 2019 - 12:55

RNA - Qatar's National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) said on Wednesday that it will file the complaint at the UN over the obstacles put in place for Qataris planning to perform the annual Hajj pilgrimage.

It added that it will also lodge similar complaints at the European Parliament and the UNESCO.

The head of NHRC said in a statement that some 20 months after the start of the blockade on Qatar, Saudi Arabia has still kept restrictions on Qatari pilgrims and has politicized the religious acts.

The restrictions are part of a boycott launched on June 5, 2017, by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt, which saw the group sever diplomatic ties with Qatar and impose a blockade. They accuse Qatar of funding "terrorism", allegations Qatar has strongly denied.

The four Arab states cut transport links with Qatar, and Saudi Arabia has closed the peninsula's only land border.

As the custodian of Islam's holiest sites in Mecca and Medina, Saudi Arabia organizes the annual Hajj.

The pilgrimage is one of the pillars of Islam, which every able-bodied Muslim who is able to afford the journey is required to undertake at least once in a lifetime.

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