Exploitation and Oppression of British Hajj Travellers Must Be Brought to an End

- FCO
- Home Office
- DTI
- MPs
- Members of House of Lords

We the undersigned are deeply concerned about the treatment of over 50,000 British citizens who travel to Saudi Arabia to perform Hajj & Umrah every year. Many travellers experience extreme hardship, mental anguish at the hands of some tour operators and travel agents who through their practices exploit the would-be pilgrims both financially and mentally.

Some typical examples in relation to Hajj 2006 have been as follows:

1. Hajj tour operators who have been blacklisted by Saudi authorities duped pilgrims into believing they were legitimate and obtained their money dishonestly. They then became elusive and abandoned the pilgrims leaving out of pocket and unable to arrange their documentation in time for their Hajj journey.
2. Some of the authorised tour operators exploited those affected Hajj pilgrims and sold Hajj visas that were meant to be free of cost at extortionate prices.
3. Hajj tour operators/travel agents sold travel tickets to Saudi Arabia at premium prices and some instance nearly doubled the cost.
4. Some Hajj tour operators/travel agents did not provide the quality services i.e. accommodation, transport and other amenities during the Hajj period as promised by them.

The examples as above and the practices of the tour operators/travel agents at the time when pilgrims are vulnerable and most eager to travel to complete a journey of a lifetime are deplorable. These people should be investigated and held accountable of their dishonest actions. This behaviour is reprehensible and has no place in a civilised society such as ours in UK.

The relevant government departments and Law Enforcement agencies must respond adequately to protect the Human Rights of its citizens in this respect.

We strongly urge the government to take a robust stance in this situation and that decisive action must be taken (together with the Saudi Authorities) to help eradicate the malpractices and oppression of innocent British Citizens.