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Adam Bannister is a contributor to IFSEC Global, having been in the role of Editor from 2014 through to November 2019. Adam also had stints as a journalist at cybersecurity publication, The Daily Swig, and as Managing Editor at Dynamis Online Media Group.
When: 2-4 November Where: RICEC, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
The Hajj pilgrimage passed off peacefully after Saudi authorities beefed up security amid fears over the threat posed by Islamic State.
Attracting some two million Muslims the annual pilgrimage to Mecca is arguably the world’s hardest gathering to police.
almajalG4S – who are exhibiting at IFSEC & OSH Arabia from 2-4 November – provided a 60,000-strong security force to guard the event, a move some feared might actually compromise security because the British company also guards prisons for the Israeli government.
In advance of the pilgrimage, which every Muslim is expected to undertake at least once in their lifetime, Saudi authorities installed thousands of CCTV cameras, deployed facial recognition technology and introduced a new system for screening Hajj permits. A high-tech fence has also been erected on Saudi borders and unmanned aerial vehicles reportedly procured.
The Kaaba at al-Haram Mosque during the start of Hajj (photo: BotMultichillT on Wikimedia Commons)
There are actually 35,000 fewer security personnel than last year because of an increased reliance on technology, according to Theodore Karasik, director of research and consultancy at the Dubai-based Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis.
“There are various tribes and other folks, young people, who are attracted to Da’ash,” said Karasik. “These people we have seen have been monitored and arrested. The Saudis have learned a lot of lessons from previous disasters and events.”
Those disasters have sadly been numerous, including:
1994: Stampede killed at least 270 pilgrims at stoning of the Devil ritual.
1998: at least 118 pilgrims trampled to death and 180 injured in incident on Jamarat Bridge
2001: 35 pilgrims trampled to death in stampede during the stoning of the Devil ritual
2003: The stoning of the Devil ritual claimed 14 pilgrims’ lives.[6]
2004: 251 pilgrims killed and 244 injured in stampede during stoning ritual
2006: A stampede during ritual ramy al-jamarāt killed at least 346 pilgrims and injured 289
The country’s Council of Senior Religious Scholars have issued a fatwa against anyone joining or financing extremist groups, while security forces have rounded up dozens of suspected militants this year.
Although it might seem counterintuitive for Islamic terrorists to attack the religion’s most sacred gathering, in 1979 Islamist militants did just that, attacking the Grand Mosque in Mecca shortly after the Hajj.
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