Egypt pilgrim arrested in Mecca for chanting against Arab leaders

Daily News Egypt
Egyptian pilgrim arrested in Mecca for ‘chanting against Arab rulers’

September 30, 2014

Aya Nader 

Saudi authorities arrested an Egyptian pilgrim in Mecca for protesting against Arab leaders on Tuesday.

The Egyptian was taken to Al-Taif psychiatric hospital for a check-up, a source in the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs told Daily News Egypt.

The pilgrim was “chanting against Arab rulers, accusing them of harming Islam,” during a hajj (pilgrimage) in Mecca.

The Egyptian Minister of Endowments Mohamed Gomaa called for his deportation to Egypt to be arrested and tried.

The death toll of Egyptian pilgrims this year reached 13, reported state-owned Al-Ahram, while confirming that there are no outbreaks of disease among them. The annual religious event often results in the death of scores pilgrims as a result of being trampled by crowds or from exhaustion.

The hajj is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is one of the five pillars of Islam and must be carried out at least once by every adult Muslim who is physically and financially capable of undertaking the journey.

*Additional reporting by Joel Gulhane