By Libya Herald Staff.
Tripoli, 17 September 2013:
The Libyan government has announced that it will fund the full costs of 2,070 pilgrims . . .[restrict]going on Haj to Mecca this year.
The majority of them, 1,620 pilgrims, will be members of the families of revolution martyrs – two members from each family of 810 martyrs.
The additional 450 places are reserved for 150 people who lost limbs fighting in the revolution, plus two members of their families.
Haj this year is expected to occur between 13-18 October.
Thousands of pilgrims from around the world have already flown in to Jeddah and Medina and the last pilgrims are expected around 9 October. The Saudi embassy in Tripoli is currently processing Haj visas.
In its announcement about supporting the 2,070 pilgrims, the government said that they represented 29.5 percent of all Libyan pilgrims going on Haj this year – some 7,000. However, the Saudi government has imposed a 20-percent cut in this and next year’s pilgrim numbers because of expansion works to the Grand Mosque. Libya’s quota this year is down from 7,000 to 5,600. [/restrict]
