Haj officials worried as Saudis spurn bus driver jobs

September 15, 2013

Jeddah, Sep 15: The Haj pilgrim transportation sector is in a dilemma. In a bid to provide employment to Saudi youth, the Ministry of Labor has made it mandatory for transport companies to hire only Saudis as bus drivers during the Haj season.

However, there is an acute shortage of Saudi applications for the vacant positions despite the incentives and attractive packages offered by transport companies.

As a result, the companies have resorted to recruiting drivers from outside the Kingdom.

Road transportation, in particular the bus service, is vital for Haj operations. Foreign pilgrims have to be transported to and from the airports to the holy cities. The SR10 billion transportation sector is run by more than 18 companies with a fleet of over 20,000 buses capable of accommodating up to 50 people each. Over 650,000 foreign pilgrims are transported within the Kingdom.

Most drivers come from Egypt, Syria and Sudan. They are paid on average SR1,500.

Companies in Makkah have launched a campaign to recruit Saudi youths for the position of drivers. For the past two months, they have been offering a salary of SR4,000 and other incentives. Although some Saudis have come forward, their numbers are insufficient. Most of these youths are students in Makkah.

Saad Jameel Qureshi, a businessman and chairman of the transportation committee in Makkah, said that companies had attracted approximately 2,500 Saudi youths for the Haj season.

The low turnout of Saudi applicants forced transport companies to approach the Ministry of Labor to supply the required number of drivers. Consequently, the ministry has allowed the companies to hire 22,000 drivers on a temporary basis from Arab countries for the Haj season.

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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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