62 firms to provide low-cost Haj services

August 8, 2014

Jeddah, Aug 8: The Haj Ministry has instructed 62 companies to provide low-cost Haj services during the upcoming season at a rate of SR2,500 to SR5,000. The low-cost Haj program is expected to benefit 41,000 pilgrims this year.

The ministry has divided companies providing the low-cost services into seven categories, with the first charging SR5,000, the second SR4,800, the third SR4,400, the fourth SR4,150, the fifth SR3,600, the sixth SR3,100 and the seventh SR2,500. Fayez Al-Barakati, director of domestic Haj affairs at the ministry, said the service firms have been directed not to exceed the fixed prices.

Saad Al-Qurashi, chairman of the Haj & Umrah Committee at the Makkah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI), said pilgrims who want to avail themselves of low-cost services must apply through the ministry’s website, adding that the ministry would begin accepting applications next week.

“We expect about 150,000 domestic pilgrims to perform Haj this year, including 41,000 who benefit from low-cost services,” Al-Qurashi told Arab News.

More than 1.4 million foreign pilgrims are expected to perform Haj this year and the “tawafa” (Haj) organizations for pilgrims from different countries have completed preparations to host them.

The government has cut the quota of foreign pilgrims by 20 percent and domestic pilgrims by 50 percent due to ongoing expansion work at the Grand Mosque in Makkah to ensure their safety and comfort. “This year, the day of Arafat, when the guests of God stand in prayer in the plains of Arafat near Makkah at the peak of the annual pilgrims, is anticipated on a Friday,” Al-Qurashi said, indicating a high turnout of pilgrims this season.

He said domestic Haj service companies would be allotted tents and sites in Mina, Arafat and Muzdalifah on Aug. 21 to make arrangements for their pilgrims. “The early allocation of tents will definitely contribute to reducing Haj service charges,” he added.

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UN condemns Israeli regime’s ‘organized torture’ against Palestinians

News Network

November 30,2025

The United Nations Committee against Torture (CAT) has condemned the Israeli regime for enforcing a policy of “organized torture” against Palestinians.

In a report published on Friday, CAT stated that the occupying regime enforces a deliberate policy of “organized and widespread torture and ill-treatment” against Palestinian abductees, particularly since October 7, 2023, when Israel launched its genocidal war on Gaza.

The committee expressed “deep concern over repeated severe beatings, dog attacks, electrocution, water-boarding, use of prolonged stress positions [and] sexual violence” inflicted on Palestinians.

Palestinian prisoners were degraded by “being made to act like animals or being urinated on,” systematically denied medical care, and subjected to excessive restraints, “in some cases resulting in amputation,” the report added.

CAT also condemned the routine application of “unlawful combatants law” to justify the prolonged detention without trial of thousands of Palestinian men, women, and children.

More than 10,000 Palestinians, including women and children, are currently held in Israeli prisons, according to Palestinian and international human rights groups, with 3,474 Palestinians in “administrative detention,” meaning they are imprisoned without trial for indefinite periods.

The report highlighted the “high proportion of children who are currently detained without charge or on remand,” noting that while Israel sets the age of criminal responsibility at 12, even younger children have been abducted.

Children designated as security prisoners face severe restrictions on family contact, may be subjected to solitary confinement, and are denied access to education, in clear violation of international law.

The committee further suggested that Israel’s policies across the Occupied Territories constitute collective torture against the Palestinian population.

“A range of policies adopted by Israel in the course of its continued unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory amounts to cruel, inhuman or degrading living conditions for the Palestinian population,” the report said.

On Thursday, the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas condemned the systematic killing and torture of Palestinian abductees in Israeli prisons, urging international action to halt these abuses.

Citing human rights data, Hamas stated that 94 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli prisons since the start of Tel Aviv’s genocidal war on Gaza.

“This reflects an organized criminal approach that has turned these prisons into direct killing grounds to eliminate our people,” the resistance movement said.

Hamas called on the international community, the UN, and human rights organizations to immediately pressure Israel to end crimes against prisoners and uphold their rights as guaranteed by all international conventions and norms.

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