Prophet’s Mosque expansion: Most east-side buildings razed

August 13, 2013

Madinah, Aug 13: The demolition of over two-thirds of buildings surrounding the Prophet's Mosque from the east have been completed for the mosque’s grand expansion ordered by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah.

The demolition work started early July and has been continuing ever since. So far, 10 big buildings have been demolished, including the Awkaf building, the Al-Wiladah mosque and the Al-Ansar market.

Director of PR at the Presidency of the Affairs of the Prophet's Mosque Abdul Wahid Al-Hattab said when the expansion is completed from all four corners, the mosque will raise its intake capacity to more than 1.6 million worshipers.

He noted that the demolition process did not impede the large number of visitors from entering the Prophet's Mosque during the just-concluded month of Ramadan.

Meanwhile, director of the Haj Ministry in Madinah Mohammed Al-Neejawi revealed that since the start of the Umrah season in February, more than 5.2 million people visited the Prophet's Mosque to pay homage to Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and pray.

He said these visitors were accommodated in about 1,000 buildings containing more than 300,000 beds thanks to a grouping system that would not allow the arrival of newcomers before the visiting groups have left.

Al-Beejawi said under the new system, not more than 450,000 visitors would be allowed to stay in Madinah at the same time.

Comments

Add new comment

Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.

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.

Comments