Expats arrested for renting out wheelchairs at Grand Mosque

July 11, 2014

Makkah, Jul 11: Sharif Mashoor Al-Manami, undersecretary of the Presidency of the Two Holy Mosques Affairs, has confirmed that more than 100 violators of work and residency regulations were arrested for renting out wheelchairs at the Grand Mosque in Makkah.

He told Arab News that the violators have been referred to the Passport Department in Makkah for further investigation.

Al-Manami warned all pilgrims and visitors to Makkah against dealing with the owners of carts and wheelchairs, which have been provided by the General Presidency.

A number of pilgrims, meanwhile, expressed their dissatisfaction with the high rental prices of carts and wheelchairs for use by the elderly and individuals with special needs in the Haram, especially during Ramadan.

They said that the price of a single wheelchair ranges from SR250 to SR500, making them unaffordable for people with low incomes and in need of this service.

They also complained about the lack of organization in operating the movement of these chairs, which can injure pilgrims performing the religious rights on foot as these are pushed at high speed.

Ahmed Al-Yami, Hassan Sharif and some other young Saudis working in this field explained that the month of Ramadan was a great opportunity to get high financial returns which would help support their families especially as the majority of the workers are typically unemployed.

They said that they can earn up to SR2,000 daily in Ramadan, justifying the high rents of the carts to the amount of effort exerted in pushing these carts in the heavy rush in the Grand Mosque. They noted that some pilgrims sometimes pay up to SR1,000 for their services.

Al-Manami said that an ad hoc committee has been set up to oversee the issue of unlicensed carts and wheelchairs, noting that an integrated plan is under way to provide more than 10,000 carts for free and another 500 on lease during the holy month.

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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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