With Brexit looming, British Hajj pilgrims feel the pinch as tour costs jump

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British Consul-General in Jeddah Seif Usher welcomes British Hajj pilgrims to the Kingdom. (Photo: UK embassy in Saudi Arabia)
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Mulism pilgrims arrive at the Grand Mosque in Saudi Arabia's holy city of Makkah on August 7, 2019, prior to the start of the annual Hajj pilgrimage in the holy city. (AFP)
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Muslim pilgrims gather on Mount Arafat, also known as Jabal al-Rahma (Mount of Mercy), southeast of the Saudi holy city of Mecca, on Arafat Day which is the climax of the Hajj pilgrimage early on August 20, 2018. (AFP)
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Updated 08 August 2019
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With Brexit looming, British Hajj pilgrims feel the pinch as tour costs jump

  • Plummeting value of sterling ramps up pressure on pilgrims and tour operators
  • Some premium tours now cost £2,000 more than five years ago as flights and hotel prices soar

LONDON: British pilgrims are struggling to keep up with a dramatic jump in the cost of traveling to Saudi Arabia to perform Hajj.
More than 20,000 people make the pilgrimage from the UK every year but spiralling air tickets and hotel prices have ramped up prices in the past five years.
The plunge in the value of the pound over concerns about the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union has only added to the financial cost of visiting the Kingdom.
This year pilgrims from the UK will pay somewhere between £5,000 and £11,000 to perform the pilgrimage, according to tour operators.
The fifth pillar of Islam, Hajj must be performed by Muslims once in a lifetime as long as they can afford it and are healthy enough. But there are fears that some Muslims are being priced out of this duty.


Hajj packages in the UK vary according to hotel star ratings, how close hotels are to the Grand Mosque in Makkah and the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah, whether flights are direct or not, and whether packages are “shifting” or “non-shifting”.
With the considerably cheaper “shifting” packages, pilgrims are moved away from the Grand Mosque during the peak Hajj season, staying in faraway apartments. Once the main days of Hajj are over, pilgrims are moved to accommodation near the Grand Mosque.
Mohammed Patel, 47, is a licensed Hajj operator and the owner of Flight Express travel agency in north London. He has been taking Brits on the pilgrimage annually since 1999.
This year, his non-shifting executive Hajj package cost £7,200, based on four people sharing a room. The price includes 5-star hotel accommodation in Makkah and Madinah, return flights, the slaughter of an animal in accordance with Hajj requirements, transport within Saudi Arabia, half board meals throughout the journey, guidance on how to perform the Hajj, and accommodation in air-conditioned camps in Mina and Arafat.
The same package in 2015 cost just £5,200 — almost 40 percent less.


Patel said the price increase can be attributed to many factors, including the high cost of flights that airlines know they are able to charge during the Hajj season, the increasing cost of hotel rooms, the decline of the British pound against the dollar over the last two years, and inflation in general.
“We’re paying an average of between £1,100 — £1,400 per ticket which is maybe twice or three times the actual ticket value. Airlines know that there is a demand during this season,” Patel said.
“During the period between 2003-2005, we used to sell packages for £1,500-£2,000 and buy tickets for £400. Buying a ticket for £600 was extortionate in those days, but now we’re looking at a minimum of £1,000. That could be with an airline that has a long stopover as well — you might have a stopover of five to seven hours.”
The cost of staying in hotels in Makkah and Madinah during the Hajj period has also increased over the years due to demand and the introduction of two new taxes in the Kingdom at the beginning of 2018.
Value Added Tax (VAT) is collected by the General Authority of Zakat and Tax (GAZT), and another 5 percent levy on each occupied hotel room that is rated over three stars is charged by the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs.
“Hotel rates are going up on a yearly basis, and if we want to stay in them, we have no choice but to pay,” Patel said.


The British pound has fallen heavily against the dollar since the Brexit referendum in 2016, and sterling hit a 28-month low against the US dollar at the end of July as concerns grow that the UK will leave the European Union without a deal.
Because the Saudi riyal is pegged to the US dollar, the pound is now worth fewer riyals and this is problematic for Hajj operators who pay large bills in sterling.
“The exchange rate makes a difference. Whereas previously we’d exchange at SR5.5-SR6 for every pound, now £1 is worth SR4.5-4.7. The lower the rate is, the higher the cost will be for us,” Patel said.
“When you’re paying bills worth hundreds of thousands or millions of riyals for overall services, the exchange rate makes a massive difference.”
Despite the great expense involved, this does not put off more than 20,000 British pilgrims performing Hajj every year.
Shaheen Doctor said she had wanted for a long time to perform Hajj when she finally made the pilgrimage from Britain last year.
While the journey with her husband and two children surpassed her spiritual expectations, the trip cost about £24,000.
“We don’t regret it and believe that God will recompense us for this amount,” the 43-year-old nurse from Hackney, London, told Arab News. “This year, however, we won’t be going abroad during July and August.”
Yusuf Bham, a 51-year-old civil servant from Nuneaton, is performing Hajj this year and is looking forward to the “once in a lifetime event.”
He said that although he has had to save to be able to perform Hajj, he “enjoyed making those sacrifices” because they are worth it.

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The British Hajj tour operator ‘serving pilgrims for 20 years’




Mohammed Patel in Arafat during a previous Hajj. (Photo: Supplied)

Mohammed Patel, 47, runs Flight Express, a travel agency in Finsbury Park, north London, and has been leading Hajj groups of British pilgrims to Saudi Arabia since 1999.

He told Arab News that although he and his team face different challenges every year, Saudi authorities are continuously making efforts to improve the Hajj experience for more than 2 million Muslims who arrive in the Kingdom for the annual pilgrimage.

“Generally, I can say hand on heart, they do a magnificent job in Saudi Arabia considering that more than 2 million people are attending Hajj in a small area. They have a good set-up.”

Patel says that despite the “very hard work, stress and six to seven months of planning prior to Hajj” that is involved in order to make his clients’ pilgrimage as smooth as possible, he continues to lead Hajj groups every year.

“Every year we have new experiences and learn something new. We strive to improve every year because we want to better our clients’ Hajj experience for the next year.

“My motivation is to serve pilgrims. I thank God for giving me the licence to operate as a Hajj operator, and the good reviews that I get every year encourages me to serve the pilgrims.”


Serbia to talk with Putin after US sanctions target energy company

Updated 55 min 25 sec ago
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Serbia to talk with Putin after US sanctions target energy company

  • Petroleum Industry of Serbia (NIS), majority-owned by Russia’s Gazprom Neft and its parent company, Gazprom, is the only supplier of gas to Serbia
  • NIS was among the raft of companies hit by the latest round of US sanctions targeting the Kremlin on Friday

BELGRADE: Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said Friday he would hold talks with Russian leader Vladimir Putin after Washington announced sweeping sanctions against a range of energy companies, including a Serbian firm.
Petroleum Industry of Serbia (NIS), majority-owned by Russia’s Gazprom Neft and its parent company, Gazprom, is the only supplier of gas to Serbia and the majority owner of both gas pipelines that transport gas from Russia to households and industries in Serbia.
NIS was among the raft of companies hit by the latest round of US sanctions targeting the Kremlin on Friday.
Following the announcement, Vucic told a news conference he would speak with Putin “first over the phone, and then explore other ways of communication.”
Vucic said he would also be holding talks with US and Chinese representatives soon.
“We will respond responsibly, seriously, and diligently, and although we will act carefully, we will not rush into making wrong decisions,” Vucic added.
“We will ask the incoming administration to reconsider this decision once more and see if we can obtain some allowances regarding the decisions that have already been made.”
Serbia has maintained a close relationship with Moscow since the invasion of Ukraine and refuses to impose sanctions, unlike the EU which it hopes to join.
Vucic had stated earlier that if sanctions were implemented, it would be a severe blow to Serbia, which heavily relies on Russian gas and is currently negotiating a new contract, as the current one expires in March 2025.
Gazprom Neft owns 50 percent of NIS, Gazprom 6.15 percent and 29.9 percent is owned by the Republic of Serbia, according to NIS’s website.
Friday’s announcement comes just 10 days before US President Biden is due to step down, and puts President-elect Donald Trump in an awkward position, given his stated desire to end the Ukraine war on day one of his presidency.


Venezuela’s Maduro sworn in for third term as US raises reward for his capture

Updated 10 January 2025
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Venezuela’s Maduro sworn in for third term as US raises reward for his capture

  • Venezuela’s opposition says ballot box-level tallies show a landslide win for its former candidate Edmundo Gonzalez
  • The outgoing Biden administration increased its reward for information leading to the arrest or conviction of Maduro on drug trafficking charges to $25m

CARACAS: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, whose nearly 12 years in office have been marked by deep economic and social crisis, was sworn in for a third term on Friday, despite a six-month-long election dispute, international calls for him to stand aside and an increase in the US reward offered for his capture.
Maduro, president since 2013, was declared the winner of July’s election by both Venezuela’s electoral authority and top court, though detailed tallies confirming his victory have never been published.
Venezuela’s opposition says ballot box-level tallies show a landslide win for its former candidate Edmundo Gonzalez, who is recognized as president-elect by several countries including the United States. International election observers said the vote was not democratic.
The months since the election have seen Gonzalez’s flight to Spain in September, his ally Maria Corina Machado going into hiding in Venezuela, and the detentions of high-profile opposition figures and protesters.
In the latest in a series of punitive steps, the outgoing Biden administration increased its reward for information leading to the arrest or conviction of Maduro on drug trafficking charges to $25 million, from a previous $15 million.
It also issued a $25 million reward for Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello and a $15 million reward for Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino, as well as new sanctions against eight other officials including the head of state oil company PDVSA Hector Obregon.
The US indicted Maduro and others on narcotics and corruption charges, among others, in 2020. Maduro has rejected the accusations.
The US move coincided with sanctions by Britain and the European Union each targeting 15 officials, including members of the National Electoral Council and the security forces, and Canadian sanctions targeting 14 current and former officials.
The Maduro government has always rejected all sanctions, saying they are illegitimate measures that amount to an “economic war” designed to cripple Venezuela.
“The outgoing government of the United States doesn’t know how to take revenge on us,” Maduro said during his inauguration speech, without directly mentioning sanctions.
The Venezuelan communications ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the sanctions.
Maduro and his allies have cheered what they say is the country’s resilience despite the measures, though they have historically blamed some economic hardships and shortages on sanctions.

OPPOSITION TO SPEAK
Gonzalez, who has been on a whistle-stop tour of the Americas this week, has said he will return to Venezuela to take up the mantle of president, but has given no details.
The government, which has accused the opposition of fomenting fascist plots against it, has said Gonzalez will be arrested if he returns and offered a $100,000 reward for information leading to his capture.
Opposition leaders Gonzalez and Machado are each expected to speak later on Friday.
Both are being investigated by the attorney general’s office for alleged conspiracy, but only Gonzalez has a public warrant out for his arrest.
Machado’s first public appearance since August at an anti-government march in Caracas on Thursday was marred by a brief detention.
Her Vente Venezuela political movement said guns were fired and Machado was knocked off the motorcycle on which she was leaving the event. She was then held and forced to film several videos, it said.
One video shared on social media and by government officials showed her sitting on a curb and recounting losing her wallet.
The government scoffed at the incident and denied any involvement.
Some 42 people have been detained for political reasons since Tuesday, judicial NGO Foro Penal said.
Maduro was sworn in at the national assembly in Caracas and said he was taking his oath in the name of sixteenth-century Indigenous leader Guaicaipuro and late President Hugo Chavez, his mentor, among others.
“May this new presidential term be a period of peace, of prosperity, of equality and the new democracy,” Maduro said, adding he would convene a commission dedicated to constitutional reform.
“This act is possible because Venezuela is peaceful, in full exercise of its national sovereignty, of its popular sovereignty, of its national independence,” Maduro said.
Some 2,000 invitees from 125 countries attended the inauguration, according to the government.
Cuba’s President Miguel Diaz-Canel and Nicaragua’s President Daniel Ortega, staunch allies of Maduro, attended as did Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of Russia’s lower house of parliament.
ECONOMIC TROUBLES
Venezuela closed its borders and airspace to Colombia for 72 hours starting at 0500 local time (1000 GMT), the foreign ministry in Bogota said in a statement, adding the border on the Colombian side would remain open.
The opposition, non-governmental organizations and international bodies such as the United Nations have for years decried increasing repression of opposition political parties, activists and independent media in Venezuela.
US President-elect Donald Trump has said the country is being run by a dictator.
Meanwhile the government has repeatedly accused the opposition of plotting with foreign governments and agencies including the Central Intelligence Agency to commit acts of sabotage and terrorism.
The government said this week it had detained seven “mercenaries,” including a high-ranking FBI official and a US military official.
Venezuela’s economy has experienced a prolonged crisis marked by triple-digit inflation and the exodus of more than 7 million migrants seeking better opportunities abroad.
Many of Machado’s supporters, among them retired Venezuelans who would like to see their children and grandchildren return to the country, say jobs, inflation and unreliable public services are among their top concerns.
The government, meanwhile, has employed orthodox methods to try to tamp down inflation, to some success. Maduro said this month that the economy grew 9 percent last year.
About 2,000 people were arrested at protests following the election. The government said this week it has released 1,515 of them. Gonzalez, 75, said his son-in-law was kidnapped on Tuesday while taking his children to school.


Sweden grants lowest ever number of residence permits to asylum seekers in 2024

Updated 10 January 2025
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Sweden grants lowest ever number of residence permits to asylum seekers in 2024

  • “I think it will need to continue to decrease,” Migration Minister Johan Forssell told a news conference
  • The number of people in Sweden, who were born abroad has doubled in the past two decades to about a fifth of its 10.5-milion population

STOCKHOLM: Sweden granted the lowest number of residence permits to asylum seekers and their relatives on record in 2024, a boost for the right-wing government which pledged on Friday to keep bringing the number down further.
Sweden’s minority government and its backers, the far-right and anti-immigration Sweden Democrats, won the 2022 election on a promise to keep reducing immigration and gang crime, which they say are linked.
Since then it has introduced and proposed several measures to make Sweden less attractive to immigrants, such as making it harder to become a citizen and gain residence permits, less generous rules for bringing family members to Sweden and slashed the number of UNHCR quota immigrants accepted.
According to Swedish Migration Agency data 6,250 asylum seekers and their relatives were given residency permits in 2024, down 42 percent compared to when the government came into power and the lowest number since comparable records began in 1985.
“I think it will need to continue to decrease,” Migration Minister Johan Forssell told a news conference. “We now have a historically low asylum rate, but that should be put in relation to a number of years when it has been at very high levels.”
The number of people in Sweden, who were born abroad has doubled in the past two decades to about a fifth of its 10.5-milion population.
The country recorded a peak of just over 86,000 granted asylum related residency permits in 2016, the year after the migration crisis when 163,000 people sought asylum in Sweden, the highest number per capita in the EU.
Since then Sweden has reversed generous immigration policies, fueled by the rise of the Sweden Democrats, which first made it in to parliament in 2010 but in the last election won 20.5 percent of the vote to become the second-biggest party.
The policies have drawn harsh criticism from human rights groups, which say that the government is falsely making immigrants responsible for Sweden’s problems and risking eroding civil rights and protections.
The government is actively encouraging immigrants to return to their home countries and has earmarked 3 billion Swedish crowns ($269.18 million) for repatriation grants. Starting next year immigrants to Sweden can get 350,000 Swedish crowns to return, up from the current 10,000 crowns.


Special UK unit to track down soldiers over deaths of Afghan civilians

Updated 10 January 2025
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Special UK unit to track down soldiers over deaths of Afghan civilians

  • Ministry of Defence team tasked with finding ex-personnel wanted in connection with alleged killings between 2010, 2013
  • Afghan Inquiry established in 2022 following Times, BBC investigations

LONDON: The UK Ministry of Defence has instructed a special unit to find former elite soldiers wanted in connection with alleged killings of Afghan civilians, The Times reported on Friday.
The Afghan Inquiry Response Unit will locate people named by sources in relation to the alleged war crimes covered by the Afghan Inquiry.
It will use information including the addresses of people drawing military pensions to track down those wanted for questioning.
The AIRU, which was set up in 2023, includes military personnel, civil servants, former police detectives and a specialist Metropolitan Police counterterrorist officer.
The Afghan Inquiry is looking into claims that UK special forces members killed unarmed Afghans during night raids across a three-year period of operations, and attempted to hide evidence of wrongdoing.
The Afghan Inquiry was established in 2022 after investigations by The Times and the BBC uncovered claims that UK Special Air Force units killed numerous Afghan civilians between 2010 and 2013, including an incident where three boys aged 12, 14 and 16 were killed while drinking tea in their home.
The inquiry has the power to compel witness testimony under threat of imprisonment, but has had to contend with issues including former serving personnel not keeping contact with their regiments and some witnesses refusing to give evidence.
Former Veterans Minister Johnny Mercer was threatened with jail last year after he refused to give up the names of soldiers who had told him about alleged war crimes.


Saudi-based doctor receives highest award for overseas Indians

Updated 10 January 2025
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Saudi-based doctor receives highest award for overseas Indians

  • Dr. Syed Anwar Khursheed among 27 awardees of this year’s Pravasi Bharatiya Samman
  • He has served at King Faisal Hospital in Taif and as Royal Protocol physician in Riyadh

NEW DELHI: Dr. Syed Anwar Khursheed, one of the longest-serving Indian physicians in Saudi Arabia, received on Friday the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award, the highest honor conferred by India’s president on nationals based overseas.

Dr. Khursheed was born in Gulbarga city in the southwestern state of Karnataka and has spent most of his professional life — more than 40 years — in the Kingdom.

He has served for three decades at King Faisal Hospital in Taif and nearly a decade as a Royal Protocol physician in Riyadh, was involved in the COVID-19 response, and has overseen critical care operations and medical assistance to Hajj pilgrims.

He has also contributed to education, founding the International Indian School in Taif, and provided guidance on the establishment of other schools for the Indian community in Saudi Arabia.

Dr. Khursheed usually travels to India twice a year to see his relatives and hometown, but this time the visit is different, coming with a recognition that he did not expect.

“My heart rate is higher this time,” he told Arab News, as he arrived in India to take part in the ceremony in Bhubaneswar, Odisha.

“I really felt excited, thrilled when the award was announced. I was not in the race for the award. I am aware of the honor associated with the award, the prestige it has ... I will be joining an elite club of the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman awardees and meet top-level personalities from around the globe. It’s a lifetime achievement.”

Established in 2003, the annual award celebrates the exceptional contributions of overseas Indians in various fields, including medicine, community service, education, business and public affairs.

Dr. Khursheed is among 27 recipients of this year’s Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, and the only one based in Saudi Arabia. He received the award from President Droupadi Murmu.

“Dr. Syed Anwar Khursheed is a distinguished physician with 45 years of experience in public health care and is one of the longest-serving physicians in the government sector. Having spent three decades at the King Faisal Hospital, he was a part of the Medical Protocol Department of the Royal Saudi Family for eight years. He also oversaw critical care operations in the Hajj program at Minah and Arafat,” Suhel Ajaz Khan, India’s ambassador to the Kingdom, told Arab News.

“The Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award to Dr. Syed Anwar Khursheed is a matter of great pride for the Indian diaspora in Saudi Arabia, since it is the highest honor conferred on overseas Indians by the Hon’ble President of India. The award has recognized Dr. Khursheed’s outstanding achievements in the field of medical science and health care, and his long-standing contribution to the welfare of the Indian community in Saudi Arabia.”

More than 2.65 million Indians live and work in Saudi Arabia. They constitute the second-largest Indian community in the Middle East after the UAE.

Among the previous recipients of the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award from Saudi Arabia are Dr. Majid Kazi, personal physician to King Fahd bin Abdulaziz, who was honored with Pravasi Bharatiya Samman in 2006, and Rafiuddin Fazulbhoy, social worker and the founder of Indian International School in Jeddah, who received it in 2008.

In 2011, the award was conferred to renowned pediatrician Dr. M.S. Karimuddin, and in 2014 to Shihab Kottukad, a social worker engaged in assisting the poorest Indian laborers in the Kingdom.

Educationist Zeenat Jafri, who started the first Indian school in Riyadh, was awarded Pravasi Bharatiya Samman in 2017. In 2021, the recognition was granted to Dr. Siddeek Ahmed, investor and philanthropist based in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province.