Qatar slams hajj curbs, denies air ‘corridors’ open
The Qatari authorities have accused Saudi Arabia of jeopardizing the annual hajj pilgrimage to Makkah of Qatari pilgrims by refusing to guarantee their safety. Saudi Arabia and its allies have been boycotting Qatar since June 5, accusing it of backing extremist groups and of ties to Iran, in the region’s worst diplomatic crisis in years. On July 20, Riyadh said that Qataris wanting to perform this year’s hajj would be allowed to enter the kingdom for the pilgrimage, but imposed certain restrictions.
The Saudi hajj ministry said Qatari pilgrims arriving by plane must use airlines in agreement with Riyadh. They would also need to get visas on arrival in Jeddah or Madinah, their sole points of entry in the kingdom. The Qatari Islamic affairs ministry, in a statement published by the official QNA news agency on Sunday, said the Saudi side had “refused to communicate regarding securing the pilgrims safety and facilitating their hajj”.
The ministry accused Riyadh of “intertwining politics with one of the pillars of Islam, which may result in depriving many Muslims from performing this holy obligation”. According to the statement, 20,000 Qatari citizens have registered to take part this year. The ministry said it denied Saudi claims that Doha had suspended those registrations. “The distortion of facts is meant to set obstacles for the pilgrims from Qatar to Makkah, following the crisis created by the siege countries,” the Qatari ministry added, referring to Saudi Arabia and its allies.
Some Gulf media claimed the Qatari statement was a call for the “internationalization” of the management of the hajj season, which is run by the Saudi authorities. “Any call to internationalize (the management of) hajj is an aggressive act and a declaration of war,” Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir told Arabiya news channel on Sunday. But Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani described the claims as “media fabrications”. “There has not been a single statement by a Qatari official concerning the internationalization of hajj,” he told Al-Jazeera news channel.
Qatar’s National Human Rights Committee yesterday said it will complain about the Saudi restrictions to the United Nations, the Arab League and the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation. “Anti-Qatar rhetoric... threatens the security of Qatari pilgrims,” the committee said in a statement. The hajj, a pillar of Islam that capable Muslims must perform at least once in a lifetime, is to take place this year at the beginning of September.
Saudi Arabia and its allies Bahrain, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates cut diplomatic ties and imposed sanctions on Doha in June, including the closure of their airspace to Qatari airlines. The move forced state-backed Qatar Airways, one of the region’s biggest airlines, to reroute many of its flights and scrap frequent routes to major regional destinations such as Dubai.
But the four states said yesterday that they have opened up air routes that Qatari planes can use in case of emergency. The United Arab Emirates’ foreign ministry said that nine corridors were being opened in coordination with the International Civil Aviation Organization, or ICAO. The official Saudi Press Agency issued a similar statement. Qatar denied that any new routes had been made available, however.
In a statement citing its Ministry of Transport and Communications and the Qatar Civil Aviation Authority, it said no navigation announcements have been released outlining the new corridors. The ministry and QCAA alleged that the anti-Qatar bloc was trying to “leak incorrect news” ahead of a meeting of the ICAO council yesterday. The ICAO did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Emirati foreign ministry said the emergency routes include overseas areas managed by the UAE and one over the Mediterranean, managed by Egypt.