Riyadh: Saudi government have arrested a person who claimed to have travelled to the Muslim holy metropolis of Mecca to carry out an umrah pilgrimage on behalf of the past due Queen Elizabeth II.
The man, a Yemeni national, on Monday posted a video clip of himself on social media on the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Islam’s holiest site, wherein non-Muslims are forbidden.
In the clip, he held up a banner saying: “Umrah for the soul of Queen Elizabeth II, we ask God to simply accept her in heaven and a number of the righteous.”
The photos changed into extensively circulated on Saudi social media, with Twitter customers calling for the man’s arrest.
Saudi Arabia forbids pilgrims to Mecca from sporting banners or chanting slogans.
And whilst it’s far suited to carry out umrah on behalf on useless Muslims, this doesn’t observe to non-Muslims just like the queen, who changed into ideally suited governor of the Church of England, the mom church of the global Anglican communion.
Security forces on the Grand Mosque “arrested a resident of Yemeni nationality who regarded in a video clip sporting a banner in the Grand Mosque, violating the policies and commands for umrah,” stated a assertion carried via way of means of kingdom media past due Monday.
“He changed into arrested, criminal measures had been taken towards him and he changed into noted the general public prosecution.”
State tv broadcast segments approximately the incident that blanketed the debatable video clip, however with the banner blurred.
The umrah is a pilgrimage that may be undertaken at any time — awesome from the hajj, which takes area as soon as yearly and commonly attracts tens of thousands and thousands from across the globe.
The queen died on Thursday and her funeral is deliberate for September 19.