The Undersecretary of the Ministry of Awqaf for the Department of Hajj and Umrah in Yemen, Mukhtar al-Rabash, said that the Houthi militias and militants loyal to ousted president Saleh had seized the passports of over 2,000 pilgrims and obstructed the departure of hundreds of others from areas under their control.
He said in a statement to the Yemeni official news agency that the checkpoints of the coup militias confiscated the passports of many of the pilgrims, which caused delay to the schedule of Hajj arrivals toward Mecca as agreed with Saudi authorities.
