Cairo: An Egyptian court has convicted five people of organising an illegal fatal trip for the Hajj or the annual Islamic pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, state media reported.
The misdeamenour court in the Cairo district of Abdeen convicted the five of illegally organising the trip for a woman pilgrim, who later died due to negligence during the recent Hajj season in Saudi Arabia.
The court sentenced the five to one year in prison on charges of negligence and handed down one more year in jail to three of them on charges of manslaughter.
The court also ordered them to pay a total of 2 million Egyptian pounds ($41,240) in fines. They must pay a bail of LE100,000 each to avoid imprisonment pending appeals.
The case surfaced after the woman’s family had lodged a legal complaint with authorities against a travel agency in Egypt, accusing it of causing her death due to negligence and swindle.
Investigations revealed that the woman had been illegally sent on the Hajj journey on a visit visa.
Egypt has cracked down on travel agencies suspected of arranging illegal trips for Hajj after the reported deaths of hundreds of Egyptian pilgrims during the recent pilgrimage season.
Last week, the Egyptian government said it would revoke the licences of 36 travel agencies after they were found involved in violations of laws linked to Hajj trips.
Licence revocations
These companies had organised illegal trips for unregistered Egyptian pilgrims by sending them on visit visas whose holders are not officially permitted to perform the pilgrimage rites in and around the Saudi city of Mecca.
The licence revocations came in implementation of decisions taken by an ad-hoc government taskforce led by Egyptian Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouly assigned looking into Egyptian deaths that occurred during the Hajj season.
The Hajj that took place in June coincided with scorching heat. Saudi Arabia said over 1,300 pilgrims, mostly undocumented, died after trekking for long distances under the sun.
Saudi authorities have repeatedly said a Hajj visa is mandatory to perform the pilgrimage and cracked down on fake tours. The cost of a visit visa-based pilgrimage journey is lower than that of an official trip for Hajj.
Hajj is one of Islam’s five obligatory duties. Muslims, who can physically and financially afford Hajj, have to perform it at least once in a lifetime.
