Okaz/Saudi Gazette

MAKKAH — The Ministry of Interior started implementing penalties against violators of Hajj rules and regulations starting from Sunday, June 2. Fines amounting to SR10,000 will be imposed on Saudi citizens, expatriates and visitors who were caught while entering Makkah without a Hajj permit during this period that ends on until Dhul Hijjah 14, corresponding to June 20.

The penalties will be slapped on anyone who is caught without a Hajj permit within the holy city of Makkah, the Central Haram Area, the Holy Sites of Mina, Arafat and Muzdalifah, the Haramain train station in Rusayfah, security control centers, pilgrims’ grouping centers, and temporary security control centers. The penalties will be imposed on those who violate the regulations and instructions issued by the ministry regardless of their nationality or legal status.

The Ministry of Interior recently emphasized that it will double the fine against violators, reaching up to SR100,000 in the event of repeating the violation. Expatriates among the violators will be deported to their country and a ban on reentering the Kingdom will be imposed on them in accordance with the periods specified by law.

The ministry stated that the penalty for anyone, who is caught while transporting violators of Hajj regulations and instructions, is imprisonment for a period of up to six months and a maximum fine of SR50,000. The penalties also include demanding confiscation of the vehicle used to transport the violators through a judicial ruling, and deportation of the violating transporter if he is an expatriate after serving the jail term and payment of fine.

The violator will be banned from reentering the Kingdom according to the periods specified by law. Fines will be increased in accordance with the number of violators who were provided with transportation. The ministry issued the directive to facilitate the Hajj pilgrims, who started flocking to Saudi Arabia from all over the world, to perform their rituals at the Grand Mosque in Makkah in ease and comfort.

The seasonal administrative committees at the centers of entry points to Makkah are responsible for handling cases of transportation of illegal Hajj pilgrims. The field control agencies will transfer such violators, who transport citizens and expatriates without a Hajj permit, and produce them in front of the committee, which will examine the violations, and issue administrative decisions and penalties against them.

Meanwhile, the Public Security had begun implementing Hajj regulations and instructions for holders of visit visas. More than 20,000 holders of various types of visas have been arrested. This is for the violation of the instructions that stipulate that holders of all types of visit visas must not remain in the holy city of Makkah.

The Public Security stressed that the visit visa of all types and names does not allow its holder to perform Hajj. It urged visitors to the Kingdom holding any type of visit visa not to travel to or remain in Makkah from May 23 until Dhul-Hijjah 15, corresponding to June 21.