Around 1,000 Nigerian women have been stranded at airports in Saudi Arabia for five days running because of a rule that says they must be accompanied by a husband or male relative while taking the Muslim Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca — a trip that’s pretty much mandatory for able-bodied Muslims to take at least once in their life.
Nigeria’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia told the BBC, “They are stopping women particularly between the ages of 25 and 35 without a male relative. Those over 45 are not a concern to the Saudi authorities.”
