Saudi Arabia Turns Back 1,000 Female Pilgrims From Nigeria
Saudi Arabia Turns Back 1,000 Female Pilgrims From Nigeria
Saudi Arabia this week turned back more than 1,000 Nigerian women pilgrims who were not accompanied by male guardians or “mahram.”
Saudi’s Ministry of Pilgrimage (Hajj) released a statement on Friday defending its decision, saying that it will “not allow the entry … of those who don’t comply with terms and requirements of the entry visa to Saudi Arabia to perform the Hajj.”
Saudi law requires each female pilgrim under the age of 45 years to have a male sponsor during the pilgrimage journey, regardless of nationality.
“This rule is applied to all women in general who want to get an entry visa to Saudi Arabia to perform Hajj,” pilgrimage ministry spokesman Hatim bin Hassan Qadhi said in the statement.
So far, there has been no official explanation from Nigerian authorities on what might have happened.
The last of the women arrived Friday night in Kano, Nigeria, after being stranded for four to five days at Jeddah’s King Abdulaziz International Airport, Nigeria’s state-run News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported, quoting several women.
“This is the most dehumanizing situation I have ever experienced in my life,” one arriving female, who did not want to be named, told NAN.