Makkah: 8,000 workers hired to serve pilgrims during Ramadan

July 1, 2013

Makkah, Jul 1: The General Presidency for the Grand Mosque in Makkah and the Prophet's Mosque in Madinah has started implementing a plan prepared for the blessed month of Ramadan by recruiting more than 8,000 workers to serve Umrah performers and worshippers at the Grand Holy Mosque in Makkah.

Sheikh Mohammed Bin Nasser Al-Khuzayyim, Vice President for the Affairs of the Grand Mosque in Makkah, pointed out that the presidency was carrying out a comprehensive plan to receive the growing number of Umrah performers and other worshippers round the clock during the holy month conforming to the directives of the wise leadership of the country to provide the best services to the guests of God.

Sheikh Al-Khuzayyim commended Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah for ordering the massive expansion projects at the Grand Mosque and the holy sites, which included a project to increase the capacity of the mataf (the circumambulation area) from 48,000 pilgrims a hour to 105,000 pilgrims an hour.

Meanwhile, some 300 Boy Scouts will deploy at the Prophet's Mosque in Madinah to assist weak and elderly pilgrims to reach the mosque and back to their accommodations.

This was announced by the Department of Education in Madinah province on Sunday.

The program will be carried out under the direct supervision by Nasser Abdullah Al-Abdulkarim, Director of Education in Madinah, from the first day of fasting till the end of the holy month.

In a statement to the Saudi Press Agency, Al-Abdulkarim said the program comes under a strategy adopted by the Saudi government to cultivate voluntary spirit among young Saudis.

The strategy involves instilling values of dialogue, building bridges of communication and extending a helping hand to others, including the guests of God, he said.

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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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