No leniency for Haj law violators

September 3, 2013

Jeddah, Sep 3: Saudi Arabia will not be lenient with violators of Haj regulations, the Council of Ministers said Monday, reaffirming the Kingdom’s move to prevent Saudis and expatriates from performing the annual pilgrimage without Haj permits.

“The Kingdom will be strict in executing punishment on violators of Haj regulations,” said Culture and Information Minister Abdul Aziz Khoja after the Cabinet meeting, which was chaired by Crown Prince Salman, deputy premier and minister of defense.

The Cabinet was referring to the public awareness campaign titled “Haj is Worship and Civilized Behavior,” which was launched by Makkah Gov. Prince Khaled Al-Faisal on Sunday, ahead of the pilgrimage that begins on Oct. 13.

Expatriates going for Haj without valid permits would be deported immediately and will not be allowed to come back to Saudi Arabia for 10 years, Prince Khaled said during the launching ceremony. Tough punishments will be imposed on unauthorized Haj agencies and owners of vehicles that help undocumented pilgrims reach the holy sites.

The Cabinet urged all government departments and private agencies to make all preparations to provide the best possible services to the guests of God. The government has decided to reduce the number of foreign pilgrims by 20 percent and domestic pilgrims by 50 percent this year because of ongoing expansion works at the Grand Mosque in Makkah.

Khoja said the Cabinet discussed a number of cultural, scientific and economic activities witnessed by the Kingdom last week. It commended Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah for endorsing a program to support the steadfastness of Palestinian cities and donating $200 million for the project.

The program, which was announced at a conference of Organization of Islamic Capitals and Cities in Makkah on Sunday by Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs Prince Mansour bin Miteb, aims at developing Palestinian cities.

The Cabinet was also briefed on the Kingdom's participation in the Beijing International Book Fair. The Saudi pavilion at the fair attracted a large number of visitors. The Cabinet thanked China for selecting the Kingdom as the first Arab and Muslim guest of honor of the Beijing Book Fair.

The Cabinet meeting also appreciated the measures taken to ease the burdens of litigation with the opening of the qualitative specialization sections within specialized courts and the intensification of training support for judges.

The Cabinet approved the agreement with Kuwait in the field of air transport services, which was signed in Jeddah on last Oct. 1. It endorsed the membership of the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Endowments, Call and Guidance in the Standing Committee for Money Laundering.

The Cabinet decided to add a representative of the Investigation and Public Prosecution Bureau to the committee on combating organized crimes and human trafficking at the Human Rights Commission.

It appointed Sulaiman bin Saleh Al-Nasyan assistant undersecretary for school affairs at the Ministry of Education; Abdulmohsen bin Musaed Suwailem consultant engineer at Riyadh Mayoralty; Adi bin Faleh Al-Buqami secretary of the Regional Council at Eastern Province Governorate; Saud bin Abdullah Al-Obaisi assistant undersecretary for services at Riyadh Mayoralty; and Abdullah bin Zaid Al-Rajeh assistant undersecretary for security affairs at Baha Governorate.

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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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