60 pilgrims from the families and victims of the “Christchurch” terrorist perform Hajj

In implementation of the orders of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz, work is currently underway to recruit the first batch of 60 pilgrims who were nominated to perform Hajj this year to complete the program of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques for the share of pilgrims with relatives and victims of the terrorist “Christchurch” incident that occurred in mid-March (March). 2019), which was carried out by a racist extremist, after he opened fire inside the Al Noor mosques and the Lynod Islamic Center in Christchurch, New Zealand, killing many innocent and injured people.

Abdul Rahman bin Abdulaziz Al-Suhaibani, the Saudi ambassador to New Zealand, told Asharq Al-Awsat in a call from the New Zealand capital, Wellington: “In implementation of the orders of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, the first batch out of 60 pilgrims was dispatched, which is the share of pilgrims with relatives and victims of the (Christchurch) terrorist incident, some of them He reached Makkah Al-Mukarramah, and the others on the way will arrive (today) Thursday, the sacred land.”

He added, “Work is in full swing, to host the remaining ones who were unable to assist the embassy in performing the Hajj pilgrimage for the year 2020 and were unable to travel due to the suspension of Hajj to prevent the outbreak of the Corona virus and the closure of the borders, as well as for the year 2021, as the Saudi embassy in New Zealand completed the procedures for the remaining members of the pilgrims. Those included in the royal initiative, who numbered 60 pilgrims with families and victims of the accident, after the approval of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques was issued to host the remaining ones who were unable to perform the Hajj for the aforementioned reasons.

Ambassador Al-Suhaibani explained that the delegation of 60 people from the families and victims of Christchurch to perform Hajj this year represents the last batch of the King’s initiative to host New Zealand pilgrims within the same programme, noting that the preparation of the list of candidates for Hajj was carried out in coordination and cooperation between the embassy and the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah. To issue their own visas, tickets and airline reservations, as well as assisting some of them in obtaining transit visas from the Australian embassy, ​​noting that some of the families of the victims of the accident resided in Australia and India.

He continued, “After the (Christchurch) terrorist incident on March 15, 2019, in which 51 people were killed in addition to a large number of wounded, King Salman bin Abdulaziz ordered to host the families of the victims and the wounded to perform the Hajj 2019 as a generous initiative and a positive gesture with them to relieve their grief and rehabilitate them. The embassy, ​​in coordination with the Federation of Islamic Societies of New Zealand, 200 people traveled to Mecca to perform the Hajj. A number of the wounded were unable to travel due to their injuries or for health and medical reasons.

According to Al-Suhaibani, among those included in the promotion for this year’s Hajj within the royal initiative, Farid Ahmed, who is disabled and lost his wife, who was killed in the Al-Noor Mosque when she tried to save him from murder, and when the New Zealand government held a memorial ceremony for the martyrs and injured two weeks after the accident, in which each of the Governor-General threw The Prime Minister and a number of officials eulogies and condolences Fareed Ahmed delivered a speech in which he announced his pardon and forgiveness for the Australian killer in line with the importance of forgiveness in the Islamic religion.