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Saudi Arabia is planning to open its first alcohol store in the capital, Riyadh, according to report.
Sources familiar with the development disclosed this to Reuters on Wednesday.
Accordingly, prospective customers will have to register via a mobile app, get a clearance code from the foreign ministry, and respect monthly quotas with their purchases, the document said.
Meanwhile, alcohol will be restricted to non-Muslim diplomats.
The Saudi Arabian Ministry for Hajj and Umrah has unveiled a roadmap for the 2024 Hajj.
The Saudi Minister of Hajj and Umrah, Tawfiq Al Rabiah, unveiled the roadmap at a ceremony attended by the Heads and Representatives of Hajj Missions in the Kingdom on Friday.
The meeting was to mark the end of the 2023 Hajj exercise.
Mr Al Rabiah said preparations for the 2024 Hajj will begin immediately with letters to each participating country.
He added that letters confirming the number of pilgrims slots for the Hajj would also be issued to the countries.
Mr Al Rabiah listed the highlights of the 2014 hajj roadmap, including holding preparatory meetings from September 16 to November 4 and organising an international symposium and exhibition on January 8, 2024.
“Conclusion of accommodation and Masha’er contracts: February 25, 2024; commencement of visa issuance on March, 1st, 2024; closing of visa issuance on April 29, 2024, and the arrival of 1st set of 2024 pilgrims into Saudi Arabia on May 9, 2024.”
Mr Al Rabiah stated that the first Hajj mission to conclude all preparations would have the opportunity to choose its preferred locations at the Masha’er (Mina, Arafat and Muzdalifah) for the 2024 Hajj.
The minister thanked all agencies and hajj missions for their roles in the 2023 exercise and reaffirmed the kingdom’s commitment to serving the guests of Allah in the best manner possible by obtaining feedback from hajj missions and improving on its services.
The high points of the event were the announcement of winners for the 2023 Labbaikum Hajj Services award, in which Iraq emerged as the overall best hajj mission for the 2023 Hajj.
Other countries like Malaysia, Gambia, Bahrain, Singapore, South Africa and Azerbaijan were recognised for excellence in various aspects of the hajj operations.
Saudi Arabia and Iran announced Friday an agreement to resume relations in a joint statement inked by the two countries and China and carried by Saudi and Iranian state media.
The agreement was a result of talks in Beijing that began Monday, following an initiative from Chinese President Xi Jinping aimed at “developing good neighborly relations” between Iran and Saudi Arabia, the statement said.
China hosted and sponsored talks between the two countries following “a desire [from both] to resolve the disputes between them through dialogue and diplomacy within the framework of the fraternal ties that unite them.”
Saudi Arabia severed diplomatic relations with Iran in 2016 after the Saudi embassy in Tehran was attacked and burned by Iranian protesters, angered by the kingdom’s execution of prominent Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr Baqr al-Nimr.
The revered cleric had emerged as a leading figure in protests in the Eastern Province, a Shiite-majority part of the Sunni-majority Saudi Arabia.
Relations between the two gulf countries have continued to decline since. Saudi Arabia has accused Iran of supplying weapons to their foes the Houthis, a militant group in neighboring Yemen being fought by a Saudi-led coalition.
U.S. officials also believe Iran launched attacks from its territory on oil facilities in the kingdom. Tehran has denied involvement.
The tripartite statement said embassies would be reopened within two months, and emphasized the importance of respecting each other’s sovereignty and not interfering in each other’s internal affairs.
Cristiano Ronaldo has arrived in Riyadh ahead of undergoing his medical with Al Nassr on Tuesday.
The former Machester United star arrived in Saudi Arabia on Monday night with the club expected officially unveil him at 7pm local time (4pm GMT) in the Saudi capital.
SSC [Saudi Sports Company] will broadcast and stream the unveiling of Ronaldo at Mrsool Park live on their channels for fans to watch.
Thousands of supporters are expected to attend Ronaldo’s unveiling in person on Tuesday afternoon.
According to the Saudi newspaper Arriyadiyah, Al Nassr are ready to ‘throw a party’ at the same level of Ronaldo’s Real Madrid unveiling in 2009.
A Saudi student at Leeds University UK, who returned to Saudi Arabia for a holiday has been sentenced to 34 years in prison for having a Twitter account and for following and retweeting dissident activists.
Salma al-Shebab, 34, was accused of using Twitter to “cause public unrest and destabilise civil and national security” after she posted tweets calling for women’s rights in Saudi Arabia.
Al-Shebab, who has two young sons aged four and six, was initially sentenced to six years in prison but a Saudi terrorism court on Monday, August 15, increased her jail-term to 34 years after she appealed her sentence.
In sentencing, the court cited Al-Shebab’s social media activity where she tweeted in support of women’s rights in Saudi Arabia and expressed solidarity with imprisoned women’s rights activists such as Loujain al-Hathloul and called for their release.
Al-Shebab was arrested after she retweeted a post from Al-Hathloul’s sister Lina which read: “Freedom for Loujain Al-Hathloul … Freedom for all prisoners of conscience. Your freedom is my first wish for this New Year – Happy New Year.” Al-Shebab would also sometimes retweet posts from dissident activists who were living in exile.
She was accused of “providing succour to those seeking to disrupt public order and undermine the safety of the general public and stability of the state, and publishing false and tendentious rumours on Twitter.”
Al-Shebab was arrested in January 2021 while on holiday in Saudi Arabia just days before she planned to return to the UK, where she was a PhD student at the University of Leeds. Dr Bethany Al-Haidari, the Saudi case manager at the US-based human rights organisation, said:
“Saudi Arabia has boasted to the world that they are improving women’s rights and creating legal reform, but there is no question with this abhorrent sentence that the situation is only getting worse.
“It is unfortunately no surprise that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman feels more empowered than ever in presiding over such egregious rights violations.
“The ruling for Salma’s sentence cited her social media account, where she was supportive of women’s rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul and called for her freedom.
“Though Salma was initially sentenced to 6-years in the first instance court, the sentence was increased to 34 years during the appeal. This is the longest known sentence for a women’s rights activist in Saudi Arabia.”
Loujain Al-Hathloul, who remains wrongfully held in Saudi Arabia under a travel ban, was released from jail just weeks after al-Shebab’s detention.
Al-Shebab had called for Al-Hathloul’s release from prison before her arrest. Al-Haidari added:
“It is ironic that while Loujain’s release was celebrated, Salma remained behind bars on the ground that she called for that very release.
“It’s a pattern for Saudi authorities to ensure that women activists can’t celebrate or take credit for any of their hard-won victories.”
Another pilgrim to this year’s Hajj, Sani Idris-Muhammed from Kano State, has died in Saudi Arabia. The Executive Secretary of Kano State Pilgrims Welfare Board, Alhaji Muhammed Abba-Danbatta, who confirmed the development said Idris-Muhammed from Madobi Local Government Area, died in a General Hospital at Mecca on Saturday, August 6, after a brief illness.
The deceased has been buried according to Islamic rites at Grand mosque at Masjid Haram Shira yard in Mecca,” he stated.
Abba-Danbatta prayed for the deceased and consoled his family.
418 Nigerians who were stranded in Saudi Arabia returned to the country on Wednesday.
The Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), which announced this on its Twitter handle, said the returnees arrived at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, aboard a Saudi Air plane at about 12:20 p.m. on Wednesday.
The returnees brought the number of Nigerians that had arrived from the Middle East nation this to 1, 068.
The returnees, according to the commission, will proceed on 14-day quarantine at the Federal Capital Territory Hajj camp in line with the COVID-19 protocols put in place by the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19.
The Chairman of Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), Abike Dabiri-Erewa, said on Friday the Federal Government would evacuate 600 Nigerian irregular migrants from Saudi Arabia next week.
Dabiri-Erewa, who disclosed this on her Twitter handle, said the returnees would be airlifted to Nigeria in two batches.
400 returnees, according to her, will be evacuated to Nigeria on January 28 and the remaining 200 at least 24 hours later.
The NiDCOM chief said the evacuation of the Nigerians was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, adding that the citizens were being kept in a detention facility by Saudi authorities pending their repatriation.
She said: “Nigerian irregular migrants in Saudi Arabia are due to be evacuated on January 28 and 29, pending any unforeseen issues. Their evacuation was delayed due to issues relating to COVID-19. We appeal to Nigerians to resist traveling abroad without proper documents.”
The best option to save oneself from all the problems faced by a common Nigerian is to migrate to a better and safer country, a country in which the system of government is favorable by all, a country in which the leaders are always responsible for the safety of all the citizens. But for those who successfully migrated, some of them have been involved in a crime.
Sulaimon Olufemi, a Yoruba Muslim Nigerian who traveled to Saudi Arabia when he was at a younger age in the quest for a better life and also to earn money for himself and his family was said to have been involved in a crime that the Saudi’s don’t take it lightly if committed.
In 2002, Sulaimon and 12 others were involved in the killing of a Saudi Arabian police officer. He was sentenced to death and has been on death row for over 18 years now. Other 12 individuals were sentenced to prison terms and corporal punishments.
Saudi Arabian way of punishing a killer is just the same way it happened during the olden days, the major religion practiced over there is Islam and Islam orders them in the holy Quran to kill whosoever involves in killing a soul intentionally.
Does that mean that Sulaiman would be killed for the offense he committed? Maybe.
The only way he could be saved from getting beheaded in Saudi Arabia is if the family members of the deceased agree to forgive him, he would be free.
Although the family of Sulaiman has pleaded to the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission known as NIDCOM to come to their son’s rescue so he would not be executed by the government of Saudi, the commission promised to do their best to ascertain his rescue.
Readers, what he regain freedom?
The Saudi restrictions are among the most draconian imposed so far after news of the new strain.
Saudi Arabia blocked all travel to the country via air, land and sea, becoming the latest country to impose fresh travel curbs in response to the emergence of a new strain of the Coronavirus.
The Saudi restrictions are scheduled to last a week, according to the official Saudi Press Agency. They appear to be the most draconian imposed so far in response to the new variant, which is deemed to be 70 per cent more infectious than the original strand and is rampant in the UK.
Nations such as Kuwait and Iran have halted air travel to the UK while Ukraine, Lebanon and Spain have not.
Russia though, on Monday, joined the list of countries halting travel to the UK. Moscow announced it would pull air links with the UK — initially for a week from midnight. Announcing the decision, the federal coronavirus task force said it would study the impact of the new mutated strain of the virus before deciding its next move.
The Moscow-London  link, which reappeared in August, is one of very few open air corridors between Russia and the west.
In Israel, chaos erupted at Tel Aviv airport after authorities ordered all arrivals from the UK, South Africa and Denmark to enter two-week self-isolation in designated army-run hotels due to mutant strain.
Just hours after the decision was made public, 25 Israelis arriving on an EasyJet flight from Luton initially refused to be taken into quarantine, according to local media reports.
Turkey has imposed a temporary halt to flights to and from the UK, Denmark, the Netherlands, and South Africa in response to the new Covid variation, which epidemiologists say shows no sign of being more deadly than the original virus or more resistant to the various vaccines that are being rolled out.
“It has been reported that the rate of transmission has increased in the UK with the mutation of the coronavirus,” Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on Twitter.
More than three people died in detention centres housing thousands of Ethiopian migrants in Saudi Arabia,
The migrants, according to rights group Amnesty International, were facing “unimaginable cruelty” – including being chained together in pairs, and using their cells floors as toilets, the rights group said.
It also urged Saudi authorities to improve conditions of the centres.
The detainees were expelled from neighbouring Yemen.
The migrants from Ethiopia and other countries had been working in northern Yemen but were forced out by Houthi rebels, Amnesty said.
According to UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM), some 2,000 Ethiopians remain stranded on the Yemeni side of the border, without food, water or healthcare.
Thousands of Ethiopians go to Saudi Arabia for work, making the kingdom nation a key investor and source of foreign remittances for Ethiopia.
Saudi Arabia has also been cracking down on illegal migrants.
There were up to 500,000 illegal migrants from Ethiopia in the country when Saudi authorities began the operation in 2017, according to the IOM.
At least 10,000 Ethiopians on average were being deported each month, but earlier this year Ethiopian officials requested a moratorium because of the coronavirus pandemic.
In recent months, Ethiopia has struggled to create enough space in quarantine to welcome the people back and make sure that they are not bringing coronavirus with them
Amnesty interviewed 12 detained Ethiopian migrants about conditions in the al-Dayer detention centre, Jizan central prison, and prisons in Jeddah and Mecca.
Conditions are especially dire in al-Dayer and Jizan, where detainees report sharing cells with 350 people, Amnesty says.
The organisation said two migrants reported personally seeing dead bodies of three men – from Ethiopia, Yemen and Somalia – in al-Dayer.
“However, all those interviewed said they knew of people who had died in detention, and four people said they had seen bodies themselves,” the report said.
Amnesty said the allegations have been corroborated by videos, photos and satellite imagery.
The rights group urged the Ethiopian government to urgently facilitate the voluntary repatriation of its nationals, while asking the Saudi authorities to improve detention conditions in the meantime.
Ethiopia plans to repatriate 2,000 detained migrants by mid-October, Tsion Teklu, a state minister at Ethiopia’s foreign ministry, revealed last month.
She said the total number of Ethiopian migrants in Saudi detention facilities was 16,000 earlier this year but that it had since gone down.
Last month three migrants told AFP that visiting Ethiopian diplomats had warned migrants to stop speaking out about detention conditions.
More to come…
The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Thursday, described President Muhammadu Buhari’s independence anniversary speech as a slap on the sensibilities of Nigerians, particularly his justification of his administration’s increment of the pump price of the Premium Motor Spirit, also known as fuel.
President Buhari had in his broadcast pointed out a number of oil producing countries including Saudi Arabia, Ghana, Egypt and Niger Republic where the price of fuel is higher than in Nigeria, and concluded by saying that “sustaining the level of petroleum prices is no longer possible.”
In its reaction, the PDP, in a statement signed by its spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan called on President Buhari to “wake up to reality and take demonstrable urgent steps that will address the divisive tendencies and poor economic policies of his administration, which are fast decimating our dear nation under his watch.”
According to the party, “President Buhari’s attempt to justify the increase of fuel price in Nigeria by comparing it to the N168 per litre cost in Saudi Arabia is a morbid joke,” adding that “the minimum wage in Saudi Arabia is N305,113 (3000 Saudi Riyals), ten times higher than our paltry N30,000 which is largely unimplemented in Nigeria.”
The statement further read: “Is Mr. President not aware that, on the average, a person working in Saudi Arabia earns around 4,230SAR (N430, 267) to 16,700 SAR (N1, 698,693) per month?
“Our party charges Mr. President to always check his books before making such offensive comparisons including the price in Egypt where monthly average earning is around N222, 841 (9,200 EGP) against our N30,000.
The major opposition party in the country also flayed the togetherness theme of the President’s speech, describing the allusion as a mere rhetoric.