Why to the Saudis want to fingerprint peaceful pilgrims?

Question

The headline:

Saudi to fingerprint all Hajis from this year

The link:

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?section=theuae&xfile=data/theuae/2008/august/theuae_august541.xml

The story:

From this Haj season, all pilgrims entering the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will be photographed and fingerprinted.

Haj and Umrah contractors in Abu Dhabi fear that the new system will cause delays for pilgrims, especially for those travelling by land, and hope that the Saudi authorities will be able to put in place an efficient and quick screening process.

The system, which officially started in July last year to screen all visitors and expatriates residing in the country, will now be used to screen over a million pilgrims entering the country via land and air, according to an announcement made by a senior Saudi official on Saturday.

Brigadier General Zaid Al Turaifi, Director of Saudi Arabia's Passport Institute in Riyadh, announced that the institute is currently training its personnel in the system, which will be implemented at both King Abdulaziz Airport in Jeddah and Prince Muhammad bin Abdulaziz Airport in Al Madina Al Munawara.

After a person is fingerprinted, all relevant information, including the person's full name, employer, and the validity of his or her residency permit or visa, is stored in a database. The Saudi government hopes this will prevent people from staying in the country illegally after their visas expire, and help track down criminals.

Answer 1

OH. wow! you would not believe the overstayers..

They come into our country under a hajj visa, then stay. I guess they think their life dream is here in this country.. They see visions of all saudis as being rich..(which is not true)

these overstayers dont have any means of support, no home, shelter, so they resort to crime to live.. They wash cars in parking lots, then steal the cars, they drive around cities pretending to offer services of cheap labor, then steal/rob from unsuspecting people who think theyve managed to hire someone cheap.. they even go so far as to steal metal from construction sites to sell to recycling scrap yards.. Lately they even steal man hole covers out of the streets. .. They run prostitution rings, drugs, and anything..  The women are even worse.. they kidnap babies and use these babies in begging to win sympathy from people to give them more money.. its getting out of hand, so the country has had to resort to more stricter measures of identifying them.. Do random police traffic checks.. run fingerprints through a quick computer check on side of road. WHAM. overstayer caught...  

Answer 2

They just found out that 99% of all terrorists come from Muslim countries.  Oh what a shocker for the Saudi security system.  Good for them to do it.

Answer 3

It's the same reason why the US is taking pictures of all visitors in all of its entry points!

SECURITY ....

Saudi is correct in doing this step. As a matter of fact- they should have done this a long time ago. Being a pilgrim and going to Saudi for Umrah or Haj has nothing to do with this action by the Saudi Gov.

The action is basically towards to those people who are using this religious obligations as a cover for their own agenda. Whether to overstay (mostly Afrikans, Indians, Pakistanis, Indonesians, etc), to terrorize, to victimize, to do almost anything that has nothing to do with the occassions.

Saudi is full of illegal residents. Beggars, small time syndicates, prostitutes, farmers, workers, etc... the country is full ot those people.

and how they managed to enter the country ? .... you bet ...

For this action... hurray for the Saudi Gov.

Answer 4

Coz Saudis are bastered, aggressive, radicals ...

Helloooooooooooooooo,

For a very obvious reason indeed: security.

Most airports today in the world take such types of security measurement, especially the US.

Pilgrims are extremely peacefull, but the Hajj season is a great opportunity (actually, it is The Perfect opportunity) for anyone who wants to smuggle into Saudi Arabia. Around 2 million people entering Saudi in a very short period of time.

Majority leave back home, but there are so many others who just vanish within the crowd. They never go back. They end up as illegal immigrants. Many of them end up as professional beggars or ciminals.

May be one of top 3 problems in Jeddah (Closest city to Makkah) is the illegal immigrants issue.

Saudi Arabia to the region is just like the US to the central America. Economic situation is better which makes it an attractive place to leak in and do anything in mind. There are full communities of illegals, just like the US.

Answer 5

I'm happy they're doing this.  I won't mind at all to give my fingerprints and picture to them, and neither should the people who aren't criminals and aren't planning to stay in KSA illegally.

There are a TON of illegal immigrants all over Saudi Arabia, but I've heard it's a really big problem in Makkah and Jeddah because of hajjis overstaying.

At least with the fingerprints and picture and some basic info, these people can be identified and sent home to the right country instead of filling up a jail here or getting released back into the streets just to do some more begging or commit more crimes.  

Answer 6

That is a good question.  Maybe they have some security issues.  Seems odd to be doing this during someonen's haj, though.  Perhaps they have had trouble with illegal immigrants.  Sounds like they have better security than Canada.  Maybe we should look into this and require it of refugees, travellers and immigrants.