Tech 4 Peace
What is the truth about allowing seven million Iranian visitors to enter Iraq at the beginning of the month of Safar, for the “Arbaeen visit”?
Several pages on social media platforms circulated a photo attached with the following text: "Source, 7 million Iranian visitors will enter Iraq at the beginning of the month of Safar".
The clarification:
The news circulating regarding the number of visitors allowed to enter Iraq in the month of Safar, the "Arbaeen Visit", which is estimated at seven million Iranian visitors, is inaccurate!
Where Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi chaired a meeting of the Supreme Committee for Health and National Safety today, and it was decided to allow entering only 30,000 Iranian visitors through international airports exclusively, with a negative (PCR) test brought within 72 hours before their entry to Iraq.
Note that the procedures are due to the COVID-19 pandemic have varied, and the number of visitors concerning Arbaeen Visit has decreased.
Last year, Karbala Governorate received tens of thousands of Shiite pilgrims to commemorate the 40-day mourning period of Imam Hussein, one of the largest religious gatherings in the world, including thousands who came from outside the country despite the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The occasion of the killing of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, is considered the saddest in Islamic history for Shiites around the world.
The government decided to allow 1,500 visitors from each country by air and granted Iran the right to send 2,500 additional visitors through land ports at that time.
The number of visitors remains lower compared to 2019, when about 14 million visitors flocked, the majority of whom were Iranians, in addition to others from various countries, including Lebanon, Pakistan, and the Gulf states.
To commemorate this occasion, visitors from different regions in Iraq, days before its arrival, walk to the city of Karbala, where the shrine of Imam Hussein and his brother Abbas, to participate in these ceremonies. Click here.
Edit note: An update has been added to the information that was mentioned in the article after the Iraqi government decided to change what it previously decided (as it decided on September 9, 2021, to increase the number of travel visas granted to religious visitors for the forty visit (Arbaeen Visit) from Islamic countries from 40 thousand visitors to 80 thousand visitors. Edit time: 03:01, edit date: 10/9/2021
