Saudi authorities: We will punish Al Areefi if he travels to Jerusalem

The official spokesman of Saudi Arabia’s General Directorate of Passports, Major Badr El Malik, said that any Saudi who travels to a country on which the Saudi government imposes a travel ban will be charged and penalised accordingly.

Commenting on the announcement made by Saudi preacher Dr. Mohamed Al Areefi that he intended to visit Jerusalem to shoot an episode of his show, El Malik said, “We won’t hold him accountable for statements he makes on TV since these could be sheer propaganda… But if the Ministry of Interior verifies that a Saudi citizen actually went to one of the countries on which the government imposes a travel ban, he will be penalized no matter who he is.”

In statements that El Malik made to the Saudi newspaper Al-Watan – which it published Wednesday, April 7, he said that “traveling to countries on which a travel ban is imposed without obtaining a special permission from the authorities leads to penalization.”

Sheikh Mohamed Al Areefi had announced, through Iqra satellite channel, his intention to travel to Jerusalem next week in order to shoot an episode of his show “Leave Your Fingerprint”, although the Saudi authorities ban traveling to Israel.

On his part, the former member of the Interior Ministry’s Advisory Committee, Sheikh Mohamed Bin Yaeesh, said in comments published in the same newspaper that Muslims around the world are eager to visit Al Aqsa Mosque but they don’t go there in protest of Israel’s control of it, as visiting Jerusalem is considered to be a form of recognizing Israel.

Bin Yaeesh explained that warding off evil takes priority over bringing benefits, and that visiting Israel involves great evils, including breaking Muslim unity and accusing Saudi Arabia of standing behind the preacher’s visit to Israel.