Fact-check: Were PTI supporters arrested during Hajj in Saudi Arabia?

Online users appear to believe claims that three Pakistani nationals have been sentenced to seven years in jail in Saudi Arabia for carrying the flag of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf during Hajj.

The claim is inaccurate.

Claim

“For the first time in history, three people have been arrested and sent to jail during Hajj,” wrote a Facebook user on July 1, “According to details, three Pakistanis were arrested for waving the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf flags, making video and raising slogans for Niazi [former prime minister Imran Khan].

The post has been liked and shared over 89 times.

On July 2, another Facebook user wrote: “Three Pakistanis who were arrested on the occasion of Hajj for hoisting the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf flag are sentenced for seven years in prison and fined 50,000 riyals each.”

Fact

No pilgrim from Pakistan has been arrested or convicted during Hajj this year, confirm two officials at Pakistan’s Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony.

“I saw these claims on social media too,” Muhammad Umar Butt, the spokesperson of the ministry, told Geo Fact Check over the phone. “It is fake news. We do not have any such information or reports about arrests.”

He added that, however, 67 pilgrims had been reported missing earlier in the Kingdom, out of which 66 have returned, and one is still untraceable.

Separately, Mushahid Hussain Khalid, a director general at the ministry, which deals with presentation and coordination, also told Geo Fact Check that the ministry has no such report of arrests to date.

“There is no such report,” he said in a voice message, “Only one [Pakistani] pilgrim has been missing.”

— With additional reporting by Muhammad Binyameen Iqbal.

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