Qatar says Saudi Arabia is politicizing the annual Hajj pilgrimage as a diplomatic row rages on in the Persian Gulf region.
According to, al-Jazeera, 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 that would be challenging for Qataris who do not live in Doha.
The Doha-appointed human rights commission 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."
Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam, which every able-bodied Muslim who is able to afford the journey is obliged to undertake at least once in a lifetime.
The Pilgrimage is due to begin in early September.
The NHRC said it was "extremely concerned over [Riyadh] politicizing religious rituals and using [Hajj] to achieve political gains,” adding that “any Qatari citizen located outside Qatar must first return to Qatar then travel to Saudi Arabia” due to the new measures.
The restrictions are part of a boycott launched on June 5 by Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, 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.
A second complaint would be lodged with the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) against the Riyadh regime for subjecting the Qatari nationals to harassment and threats, the NHRC said.
The complaints are meant to draw international attention to Saudi Arabia's violations of religious freedom and the right to worship, it pointed out.
Saudi Arabia organizes the Hajj pilgrimage as the custodian of Islam's holiest sites in the cities of Mecca and Medina.
However, serious questions were raised about the competence of Saudi authorities to manage the Hajj rituals following two deadly incidents in September 2015.
More than 100 pilgrims lost their lives after the collapse of a massive construction crane into Mecca’s Grand Mosque.
About 4,700 people also died in a human crush, according to the figures provided by Iran.
Saudi-led bloc to meet in Manama
The foreign ministers from the Saudi-led bloc are set to hold a meeting in the Bahraini capital, Manama, on Sunday to discuss the latest developments on the Qatar crisis.
They are expected to pressure Qatar into complying with their demands during the two-day meeting.
On Saturday, Fahad bin Mohammed al-Attiyah, Qatar’s ambassador to Russia, told a radio station in Moscow that his country supported the people’s aspirations in the wake of the Arab Spring uprisings.
The Saudi-led quartet, however, chose to go against that current and punished those who opposed their governments and branded them terrorists.
"This in itself is terrorism," he said. "The siege countries are trying to reproduce the regimes that produced terrorism, and they want to convince us that these regimes will fight terrorism."
Meanwhile, Yousef al-Otaiba, UAE ambassador to the US, said told PBS public broadcaster that the disagreement between the Persian Gulf Arab countries "is about what the future of the Middle East should look like."
LINK: https://www.ansarpress.com/english/7758
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