IRAQ: NEARLY 1,000 IRAQI MUSLIMS LEAVE IRAQ FOR SAUDI ARABIA TO MAKE ANNUAL PILGRIMAGE TO MECCA

Record ID: 189762

  • Title: IRAQ: NEARLY 1,000 IRAQI MUSLIMS LEAVE IRAQ FOR SAUDI ARABIA TO MAKE ANNUAL PILGRIMAGE TO MECCA
  • Date: 16th February 2001
  • Summary: BAGHDAD, IRAQ (FEBRUARY 16, 2001) (REUTERS) 1. SLV PILGRIMS 0.02 2. SV/MCU RELATIVES OF THE PILGRIMS SEE OFF THE PILGRIMS (2 SHOTS) 0.10 3. MCU OLD WOMAN, A PILGRIM, WAVING 0.13 4. SLV.MCU PEOPLE BEATING TAMBOURINES, AS A TRADITION FOR THE DEPARTURE OF PILGRIMS TO HOLY MECCA (2 SHOTS) 0.20 5. SLV CONVOY OF BUSES LEAVING 0.24 6. MCU MINISTER OF ENDOWMENT AND RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS WAVING HIS HAND, WISHING THEM A NICE TRIP 0.28 7. SV LORRY CARRYING THE PILGRIMS' LUGGAGE 0.32 8. SV PEOPLE SEEING OFF PILGRIMS 0.42 9. CU BANNER, SAYING "GOD IS THE GREATEST", ATTACHED TO CAR 0.46 10. MCU (Arabic) MINISTER OF ENDOWMENT AND RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS ABDUL-MUEIM AHMED SALEH SAYING: "In the way that the embargo has affected many facilities, it has also affected the matter of Haj. Because pilgrimage can be performed only by hard currency, the State was, before the embargo, ensuring this currency to the citizens with cheap prices." 1.06 11. SV PEOPLE 1.10 12. MCU (Arabic) PILGRIM WALID HABIB SAYING: "We hope the embargo would be lifted and our frozen assets be released so that we and our families can perform rituals of Haj in the holy shrines." 1.25 13. SLV BUSES CARRYING PILGRIMS LEAVING (2 SHOTS) 1.41 SAUDI-IRAQI BORDER (FILE- 1999) (REUTERS) 14. PAN TENTS OF IRAQI PILGRIMS GATHERING AT THE SAUDI-IRAQI BORDER IN A BID TO PERFORM HAJ 1.49 15. SV IRAQI PILGRIMS WAITING FOR SAUDI ORDERS TO ALLOW THEM ENTERING INTO SAUDI TERRITORY, SHOUTING TO ALLOW THEM IN 1.53 16. LV IRAQIS PILGRIMS WAITING 1.56 17. SLV/SV SAUDI SOLDIER PREVENTING IRAQI PILGRIMS FROM CROSSING THE BORDER (2 SHOTS) 2.09 18. SV THE SAUDI FLAG AT THE BORDER 2.12 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 3rd March 2001 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BAGHDAD, IRAQ
  • Country: Iraq
  • Reuters ID: LVA7QPVLLQL6PS09C9HTL7YVXOZQ
  • Story Text: Nearly 1,000 Iraqi Muslims have left Iraq for Saudi
    Arabia to make the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca this
    year.



    This is the first group, out of 12,000 pilgrims from
    Iraq to perform Haj in 2001.

    "In the way that the embargo has affected many facilities,
    it has also affected the matter of Haj. Because pilgrimage can
    be performed only by hard currency, the State was, before the
    embargo, ensuring this currency to the citizens with cheap
    prices," said the Iraqi Minister of Endowment and Religious
    affairs Abdul-Muneim Saleh.

    A total of 10,000 Iraqi pilgrims performed haj last year,
    most travelling to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, by road.

    Iraq, with a population of more than 20 million, can send
    up to 22,000 pilgrims to Mecca under quotas set by the
    Organisation of Islamic Conference to avoid overcrowding. Up
    to two million Muslims from all over the world perform haj
    annually.

    "The pilgrims had to make the haj at their own expense
    because of financial constraints caused by the sanctions,"
    Saleh said.

    The pilgrims, accompanied by a medical team, left in a
    convoy of 15 buses on the 24-hour journey. They will pass
    through Um al-Ma'arik checkpoint at the Iraqi-Saudi border.

    Last year Iraq sent four planeloads of pilgrims to Saudi
    Arabia despite the "no-fly" zone in southern Iraq.

    In 1999 the Saudi authorities prevented thousands of
    Iraqi pilgrims from entering Saudi territory to perform Haj,
    which increased tension between Iraq and Saudi Arabia at the
    time. All the Iraqis who gathered at the Saudi-Iraqi borders
    returned home without completing the pilgrimage.


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