London
Saudi Arabia’s King Salman dismissed Mohamed Benten as minister for the Haj and Umrah, a royal decree carried by state news agency said on Friday. State minister, Issam ben Saeed, was appointed acting minister.
“Mohammed Saleh ben Taher Benten, Minister of Haj and Umrah shall be relieved form his position,” SPA said in a tweet, without giving reasons behind the decision. Benten was appointed minister in 2016.
The kingdom, which stakes its reputation on its guardianship of Islam’s holiest sites in Makkah and Medina and its peaceful organisation of the haj, sharply scaled back last year’s haj to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, after barring Muslims abroad from the rite for the first time in modern times.
Companies operating in the sector have been hit hard by the government’s preventive measures.
Before the pandemic, more than 1,300 hotels and hundreds of stores buzzed around the clock to cater to pilgrims visiting the holy cities of Mecca and Medina.—Reuters
