Saudi Arabia will not prevent Muslim Brotherhood from performing Hajj and Umrah

Saudi Arabia announced on Wednesday that it would not prevent Muslim Brotherhood members from performing Hajj and Umrah, the Islamic pilgrimage to Makkah, unless specific instructions have been issued to prevent certain individuals from entering the country.

The Saudi newspaper Makkah quoted the spokesperson of the General Passports Administration, Ahmed Al-Luhidan, as saying that: “Members of those groups prevented from entering into Saudi Arabia more generally are not prevented from performing the pilgrimage, unless they have been singled out as individuals to be specifically restricted.”

He noted that the names of those prevented from entering the country would be fed into a computerised system and they would be dealt with according to the instructions related to each individual. “Some might be returned back and some might be arrested,” he said.

On Friday the Saudi ministry of interior announced a list of banned groups accused of being terrorists, including the Muslim Brotherhood, the only group on the blacklist not militarised.