(MENAFN- The Peninsula) QNAq
Geneva: Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor described the obstruction of the travel of Qatari citizens to practice religious rites in Saudi Arabia as a serious violation that requires the Saudi authorities to investigate and hold accountable those responsible for such practices which violate the principles of human rights and freedom of worship.
In a report, the organization called on the Saudi authorities to investigate the use of religious rites on its territory for political purposes, and to work to stop these practices immediately and to bring those responsible to legal accountability.
It also called on the United Nations Human Rights Council to follow up this issue, stressing that international organizations and the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief should seek to take all necessary measures to enable Qatari citizens and others to exercise their religious rites as guaranteed by international laws and norms, and to work on the prohibition of the use of fundamental rights and religious rights as a tool for political pressure.
In a related context, the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor said that officials of services and places of worship in Saudi Arabia politicize some places and religious rituals indirectly, by setting up certain features in the places of worship and naming them the names of Saudi kings.
It underlined that the Gulf crisis and imposing a siege on the State of Qatar since the beginning of June has given a clear example of the violations that have been monitored over freedom of worship over the past months.
it said that a team from the organization met several Hajj and Umrah companies in Qatar, where Qatari citizens who planned to travel to Saudi Arabia to visit religious sites reported that they had encountered many obstacles that prevented them from completing their journey. A delegation from the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor had visited the headquarters of Qatar's National Human Committee recently where it was briefed on some of what the Committee had documented in this regard, and reviewed the violations that affected the civilians due to the Gulf crisis.
The Committee also briefed the delegation on the complaints it had collected from Qatari nationals, where it received 161 complaints relating to Saudi Arabia blocking Qatari citizens or residents from practicing their religion.
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