Six Iranian journalists were deported by Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, according to Iranian official media, following their apprehension at a prominent Muslim pilgrimage site. The cause of their detention is still unknown.
“They were arrested on Tuesday last week while recording the recitation of the Holy Quran in The Prophet’s Mosque in Medina,” state television said.
“After being questioned for several hours they were taken to the Central Police Detention Centre in Medina with no reason being given,” it added.
“We still do not know the exact causes of this issue,” state television chief Peyman Jebelli told the broadcaster from Tehran’s Imam Khomeini airport where he met the journalists on their return to Iran.
The reporters were in Saudi Arabia, according to the station, to cover the annual hajj pilgrimage, which happens this year in the middle of June.
Saudi Arabia prohibited Iranians from making the umrah, a yearly religious pilgrimage, to Mecca after they severed diplomatic ties. Nearly eleven years passed during the embargo.
Following Riyadh’s attack on Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran in reaction to the murder of Shiite preacher Nimr al-Nimr, the regional giants severed their ties in 2016.
Riyadh also forbade foreigners from entering the kingdom to perform the hajj during the Covid pandemic.
Following an agreement mediated by China, Tehran and Riyadh decided to reestablish diplomatic relations and reopen their respective embassies, allowing pilgrims from the Islamic republic to participate in the hajj last year.
Iranians were prohibited from participating in the umrah pilgrimage until this year; its return was heralded as a sign of improving relations.
Abdullah bin Saud al-Anazi, the Saudi ambassador to Iran, was present at the ceremony when pilgrims last month left Tehran for Riyadh to perform the umrah.
Unlike the hajj, which is one of the five pillars of Islam and occurs on certain days based on the lunar calendar, Muslims can do the umrah pilgrimage to Mecca at any time of the year.
