An Iraqi pilgrim waits to board a plane from the international airport in the city of Najaf to Saudi Arabia to perform the annual Muslim Hajj pilgrimage in the holy city of Makkah, in this August 29, 2015 photo.

Despite the bad economic and security situation of Iraqi pilgrims, many of them succeeded in performing Haj this year. A number of them spoke to Arab News and expressed their happiness at arriving in the Kingdom after a long security operation in Baghdad by Iraqi security authorities to check their personal information and ensure that the Iraqi Haj delegation did not include terrorists.

“It was not easy to join the Iraqi pilgrims with the bad security situation in Iraq. There were fears that the Iraqi pilgrim mission might include terrorists. Iraqi pilgrims were strictly checked by Iraqi security agencies for three months, especially those coming from the Mosul region, which is controlled by Daesh,” Al-Haj Abu Anas, an Iraqi pilgrim said.

“All Iraqi pilgrims have been distributed in hotels and tents according to their regions in Iraq. Most pilgrims who are from Mosul are staying at a hotel near Mina. Other Iraqi pilgrims from Sunni regions have been distributed in separate tents in Mina,” Abu Ayiad, an old Iraqi pilgrim, said.

One of the organizers of Iraqi pilgrims in Mina said that this distribution is to avoid any problems that might arise among pilgrims as a result of the political situation in the country. He confirmed that the Iraqi mission does not include any terrorist members of Daesh.

“All Iraqi pilgrims performed Haj according to their rituals. Our distribution helped us to do the rituals without problems. However, most Iraqi pilgrims are old men and they have no capacity to create troubles. The Iraqi government prevented young men from traveling to the Kingdom to avoid any troubles,” Saeed Al-Rifaie an Iraqi pilgrim, told Arab News.

“I am from Al-Anbar region. I am staying with pilgrims of the same region in a tent in Mina. The long security procedures prevented young pilgrims from our region from performing Haj,” Iraqi Asad Saleh told Arab News.

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