June 6, 2024
JAKARTA – Saudi Arabian authorities have released 34 Indonesian pilgrims, who were detained for attempting to perform the haj without proper visas, for immediate deportation.
The Indonesian Consulate General in Jeddah provided active assistance to members of the group throughout the process.
“Since yesterday [Monday], the Indonesian Consulate General-Jeddah’s congregation protection team has continued to accompany the examination of the 37 individuals in question,” Consul General Yusron B. Ambary told a Zoom meeting with the Haj Media Center on Monday, as quoted by Detik.com.
The pilgrims were repatriated to Indonesia immediately.
“Alhamdulillah [Praise be to God], 34 pilgrims were [released] and departed this morning for Indonesia on a Qatar Airways flight, which will arrive in Jakarta at 9:30 p.m.,” Yusron said on Monday in a statement from the Religious Affairs Ministry.
The consul general said that three individuals with the initials SJ, SY and MA, who coordinated the trip, remained in Saudi custody for legal proceedings at the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Medina.
He added that the Indonesian Consulate General in Jeddah would continue in its efforts to protect the rights of the detained Indonesians.
The members of the group had traveled on personal visit visas instead of a haj visa, Yusron explained, and were promised they would receive the tasrih permit from an Indonesian resident in Mecca.
The tasrih permit allows haj pilgrims to visit al-Rawdah al-Sharifah, or the Noble Garden section of the Prophet’s Mosque in Medina.
Each person had paid 4,600 riyals (US$1,226) for the arrangement.
They flew from Indonesia to Doha and then to Riyadh, bypassing the official haj procedures established by the governments of Indonesia and Saudi Arabia.
A previous group of 22 Indonesian pilgrims who traveled illicitly were given a 10-year ban from entering Saudi Arabia, but this latest group of illegal pilgrims was not given any sanctions.