Pilgrims sans permit, facilitators face heavy fines, imprisonment

The Ministry of Interior has announced that heavy penalties await pilgrims who try to perform Haj next month without the necessary permits.

On its Twitter account, the ministry said that pilgrims without permits shall be punished by imprisonment for two months and a fine of SR25,000 each.
“Each pilgrim found twice to be without permits to perform Haj is punishable by imprisonment for a term of six months and a SR50,000 penalty,” the ministry said.
The ministry said that heavy penalties will also be imposed on drivers and vehicle operators who transport pilgrims without Haj permits. 
The vehicles used in transporting such pilgrims will be confiscated and operators could also be charged SR100,000 in addition to imprisonment of two years.
“If they are non-Saudis, they will be deported and banned from entering Saudi Arabia after the penalty,” the ministry said.
The General Directorate of Passports, on the other hand, has begun implementing its tasks with regard to the pilgrimage season.
Suleiman bin Abdul Aziz Al-Yahya, passports director general, said the directorate had completed the preparation of trained human cadres. 
“They will be supported with modern equipment to fight counterfeiting and computers developed to ensure rapid processing of pilgrims with ease.”
He urged the pilgrims to secure the necessary permits to avoid inconvenience, and issued a warning to all those who shelter or provide work to violators in the Kingdom.
According to statistics of the Public Security Agency, around 49,000 people without Haj permits were stopped in September last year from entering the holy sites in the Kingdom. 
Also, 25,216 vehicles had not been given permission to enter the holy sites while 85 vehicles were impounded for various traffic violations.