Passengers shocked at sudden change of rules for Zamzam

November 3, 2014

Jeddah, Nov 3: Passengers departing from Jeddah’s King Abdulaziz International Airport have expressed shock and disappointment at the new rule limiting the amount of Zamzam water they can carry with them.

Earlier, passengers could take a minimum of 10 liters of Zamzam water per person, but the new rule limits the amount to only five liters per passenger causing tensions with airport officials.

Muzamal Sarkar, traveling to London, called Arab News and complained about the change in rules which prohibit passengers from taking 10-liter bottles of Zamzam water.

Sarkar explained that many passengers were taken aback by the sudden change in rules and were now wondering about what to do with the 10-liter bottles they had carried with them from Makkah.

“I carried a 10-liter Zamzam water bottle which I had bought from Makkah for SR30 to take back home but when I approached the safe wrap company to pack it for me, they informed me that they no longer packed 10-liter bottles as we weren’t allowed to carry them,” Sarkar said.

He further said that there was a stall at the airport which was selling five-liter bottles of Zamzam water for SR10 each and the packing facility was also at a distance from the airport.

“Luckily, the driver who had come to drop me at the airport was still there, so I was able to send back the 10-liter bottle and buy the smaller bottle instead to take to London for my wife who is suffering from cancer,” he said, adding that many passengers were upset at this sudden decision.

Another passenger, Salman Hassan Zaman, told Arab News that about a month ago he had traveled with his family carrying five bottles of 10-liters of Zamzam water but this time he was stuck with the 10-liter bottle and had to discard it at the airport.

Saudi traveler Ali Al Zahrani said that the new rule for carrying Zamzam should be mentioned on the airline ticket to avoid the harassment passengers were currently experiencing.

“It’s unfair to suddenly change the rules without prior notice,” he said.

Meanwhile, a Saudi Arabian Airline airport officer said that the rule had been imposed by the General Authority for Civil Aviation (GACA) not the airlines. He further said that GACA had given the contract to a company which supplies the five-liter packed Zamzam water for the passengers at the airport.

In an earlier statement, Saeed Musfer Al-Wadi, director of the King Abdullah Project for Zamzam of the National Water Company, said: “Zamzam water is being packed according to norms set by the civil aviation authorities and they are exclusively packing five-liter cans for returning pilgrims as advised by the civil aviation authorities.”

In order to find out when the rule for pilgrims had been extended to general travelers, Arab News called GACA, but received no response.

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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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