Alwaght- The Saudi regime has been preventing Qatari pilgrims from performing the Umrah pilgrimage.
According to Qatari newspaper Al-Raya, Saudi Arabia has been taking arbitrary measures against Qatari pilgrims visiting Mecca.
Early June, Saudi-led regimes severed relations with Qatar and imposed a blockade against it, accusing Doha of funding "extremism". Qatar has vehemently rejected the allegations as "baseless".
On June 22, the block, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Egypt, issued a 13-point list of demands, including the shutdown of Al Jazeera TV, limiting ties with Iran, and expelling Turkish troops stationed in the country as a prerequisite to lifting the blockade.
Qatar rejected all the demands, denouncing them as attempts to violate its sovereignty.
According to Al-Raya, Saudi authorities deported a group of 20 Qatari nationals from Jeddah airport to Kuwait last week, after two days in detention at the facility, while they were on their way to perform the Umrah.
Umrah is sometimes known as the lesser pilgrimage or the minor pilgrimage, in comparison to the annual Hajj pilgrimage of Islam. It is a visit Muslims take to the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, outside of the designated Hajj pilgrimage dates.
On Twitter, at least one Qatari national appeared to confirm the Al-Raya report.
"I intended to perform Umrah but Saudi authorities prevented me," said Mohamed Ben Hamid Al Mohanadi, in a tweet dated December 25.
The newspaper said the alleged behaviour was not "acceptable religiously or morally and should not be tolerated", adding the incident represented Saudi Arabia's continued "politicising of religious rites".
Al-Raya's account is one of several reports of Qataris being stopped from performing pilgrimages in Saudi Arabia's holy cities.
