TEHRAN (AFP) – Iran has suspended pilgrimages to the Muslim holy places until Saudi religious police end their "appalling behaviour" towards Iranian Shiite pilgrims, an official told AFP on Sunday.
"The reason for the suspension is because the way the agents of the Saudi Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice have been dealing with our pilgrims," the head of public relations of the Iranian hajj and pilgrimage organisation Abdollah Nassiri said.
"The umra has been suspended and not halted," Nassiri added, referring to the so-called less pilgrimage that is carried out throughout the year unlike the annual hajj which was held most recently late last year.
"Our move is not political, it is religious," he said.
"Since we are Shiites, we have different rituals, like reciting the special pilgrimage prayers in Mecca and Medina mosques, which has resulted in their agents rudely confronting our pilgrims and we want this to be corrected and stopped."
Saudi Arabia is governed according to an ultra-strict version of Sunni Islam and relies on the religious police of the the Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice to enforce such rules.
Iranian pilgrims all travel to the Muslim holy places under the auspices of the hajj and pilgrimage organisation so its decision effectively suspends their travel until further notice.
The organisation's head, Ali Layali, told Iran's Fars news agency: "Due to the appalling behaviour of the Saudi agents during the last annual hajj and the previous umra we decided to have talks with the Saudis over the umra.
"We received many reports from our pilgrims about the appalling behaviour of the Saudi agents" he said, adding: "Their approach made many of our citizens very upset."
Layali said he had "no idea about the timing of the negotiations. And until the negotiations bear fruit, I cannot tell you when the umra will resume. But I have to add the issue is religious and not political."
Shiite-led Iran and Sunni-led Saudi Arabia are major rivals in the Middle East, clashing repeatedly over regional affairs most recently over Saudi military intervention in a long-running Zaidi Shiite rebellion in Yemen.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100117/wl_mideast_afp/iransaudihajjumra