DUBAI: The pilgrims’ health status was the main criteria used in selecting who would be allowed to participate in this year’s Hajj pilgrimage, state news agency SPA reported.
The selection process was conducted in a transparent manner and focused on participants’ well-being, the report added, quoting Saudi Hajj Minister Mohammad Benten.
Saudi Arabia decided to limit participation in this year’s Hajj pilgrimage with the continued threat of coronavirus to ‘global public health’, the Hajj and Umrah ministry earlier said.
Only Saudi residents and citizens under 65 years old join the pilgrimage and must take mandatory coronavirus testing and undergo quarantine.
“This decision is taken to ensure Hajj is performed in a safe manner from a public health perspective while observing all preventative measures and the necessary social distancing protocols,” a statement from the ministry said.
About 2.5 million pilgrims performed Hajj last year, with more than 1.8 million of them traveling from overseas to perform one of the pillars of Islam.
Hajj 2020: Good health main criteria for selection of pilgrims, minister says
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Hajj 2020: Good health main criteria for selection of pilgrims, minister says
- The selection process was conducted in a transparent manner
- About 2.5 million pilgrims performed Hajj last year
Saudi, Pakistan defense chiefs discuss ‘measures needed to halt’ Iranian attacks on Kingdom
RIYADH: Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman and Pakistan’s Chief of Defense Forces Asim Munir discussed Iran’s attacks on the Kingdom, amid the escalating military conflict in the Middle East.
“We discussed Iranian attacks on the Kingdom and the measures needed to halt them within the framework of our Joint Strategic Defense Agreement,” Prince Khalid wrote on social media early on Saturday.
“We stressed that such actions undermine regional security and stability and expressed hope that the Iranian side will exercise wisdom and avoid miscalculation.”
The US and Israel began a large-scale military campaign against Iran on Feb. 28. Iran has since attacked a number of sites across the Gulf.
Tehran has also attacked US and Israeli military assets as the war as escalated, impacting lives in the peaceful Arabian Gulf peninsula and risked shaking the global economy as Iran continued restricting energy shipping along the Strait of Hormuz.
The Saudi Defense Ministry said a number of drones had been shot down that were targeting the Shayba oil field in the Empty Quarter on Saturday.
A drone attacked the US embassy in Riyadh on Tuesday causing a minor fire, but no one was hurt in the incident.
Saudi Arabia and Pakistan signed a “Strategic Mutual Defense Agreement” in September, pledging that aggression against one country would be treated as an attack on both.
Separately, Prince Abdulaziz bin Saud bin Naif, the Saudi interior minister, received a call from his Pakistani counterpart Raza Naqvi, who condemned the blatant attacks targeting the Kingdom and affirmed his country’s solidarity in confronting any threats to the Kingdom’s security and stability, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Saturday.
