Iranian lawmaker criticizes Saudi Arabia over pilgrims' fingerprinting

An Iranian lawmaker on Wednesday criticized Saudi Arabia over fingerprinting Iranian pilgrims, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.

"Pilgrims of Hajj are different from normal passengers and the move by Saudi Arabia is an indication of their inhospitality," Ezatollah Yousefian was quoted as saying.

"If the Saudis continue fingerprinting Iranian pilgrims, we will retaliate and fingerprint them," said Yousefian.

The lawmaker further called on the Iranian political authorities to take appropriate measures to remove the problems and barriers existing for the Iranians' pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia, the report said.

The first groups of the Iranian pilgrims who arrived in Saudi Arabia's Medina during the last two days had to wait for a long time at the airport to be fingerprinted by the Saudi police, Fars reported.

Iran has already protested strongly against the Saudi police's misbehavior with Iranian pilgrims, which came amid concerns that Iran is raising anti-U.S. and anti-Israel sentiments among Muslim pilgrims in Saudi Arabia.


Source: Xinhua