A Saudi Security Officer Was Filmed Beating Pilgrims At Islam's Holiest Site, Causing Outrage
A video of the incident shared on Nov. 3, showed the officer grabbing the woman against her will while she was sitting on the ground and moving her away.
A Saudi security officer in Mecca was filmed assaulting a woman pilgrim at the Masjid al-Haram (Grand Mosque), causing outrage.
A video of the incident shared on Nov. 3, showed the officer grabbing the woman against her will while she was sitting on the ground and moving her away.
Shortly afterwards, a man who seems to intervene is also forcibly pushed away by the officer.
The video sparked outrage online, with people saying the behavior of the officer is unacceptable, especially in a sacred place like the Grand Mosque.
The woman has been identified as Egyptian, and the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said it had instructed its embassy in Riyadh to engage with Saudi authorities to clarify the circumstances.
The Grand Mosque issued a statement claiming the interaction was justified and that the woman had broken the rules, according to Inside the Haramain.
“The Special Forces for Hajj and Umrah Security have commenced, in a timely manner, the apprehension of a person who appeared in visual content violating the instructions and regulations followed in the Masjid Al Haram,” the Grand Mosque authorities said.
In response to the incident, Egyptian scholar Salama Abdel Qawi, former advisor to Egypt’s Ministry of Awqaf, a ministry responsible for managing Islamic religious affairs, said that such conduct is strictly forbidden under Islamic law, referencing a verse from the Qur’an, saying, “And whoever intends in it [the sanctuary] wrongdoing or injustice – We will make him taste a painful punishment.”
He described this verse as a ‘clear divine warning against committing any injustice’.
He also called for the assailant’s punishment to deter others, saying, “aggression in the sanctuary is not like aggression elsewhere; the sin and punishment are both doubled there.”
This isn’t the first time there have been allegations of pilgrims in Saudi Arabia being assaulted.
A video from March 2025 appears to show a woman traveller slapping a security officer at the Al‑Masjid an‑Nabawi in Madinah after being stopped from accessing a restricted area. The officer responded by hitting her back.
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