An elderly American is arrested in Makkah

Being a elderly pilgrim does not spare you from arrest in Saudi Arabia. Mohammed Salem, a 63-year-old Yemeni-American was arrested after he had an argument with a security man in the grand mosque of Makkah, AFP reported.

The agency said that the elderly American was taken into custody on November 1, 2022, before being transferred to a high-security facility usually used to hold political prisoners and terrorist suspects. The Saudi authorities released him after a month, after the US State Department intervened and forced the Saudi authorities to release him.