About 1,000 female Nigerian pilgrims detained by Saudi authorities in controversial circumstances have sent a Save Our Souls (SOS) message, lamenting their ordeal in detention. The women went for the annual pilgrimage but upon arrival in the Muslim holy land were rounded up and promptly clamped into detention.

While reports have it that the women are being detained for not having maharram with them as required by Hajj rules, both the detainees and Nigerian officials say the claim is untrue. A maharram is the approved male companion, usually a husband, father or brother, accompanying a female pilgrim.

Speaking Monday on the BBC Focus on Africa programme, one of the detained pilgrims, Bilkisu Nasidi, sent an SOS, revealing that they are being held in a “terrible condition.”

Hajiya Nasidi revealed that they had been sleeping on the floor for three days, with about 200 of them sharing four toilets. Initial reports said 400 were being detained as at Monday but the Abuja-based Daily Trust reported this morning that the number had reached 1,000 by yesterday evening.

Speaking on behalf of herself and other detainees, she said they were tired of suffering in a foreign land where they had gone to worship their God. Her words: “If they don’t want us to go into Saudi Arabia let them take us home, we are tired.”

The first batch of 400 were arrested after their flight touched down on Sunday while another 600 were detained at the airport on arrival the next day, Daily Trust reported.

Reacting to the scandalous development, the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON)’s Commissioner of Operations, Alhaji Muhammad Abdullahi Mukhtar, denied that the Nigerian female pilgrims could not produce muharram. “He said the State Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Boards (SMPWB) ‘qualify and identify as muharram of female pilgrims. And that has been the case for so many decades’,” according to Daily Trust.

Mukhtar wondered why only Nigerian pilgrims were selected for this treatment by the Saudi authorities. “In fact, there is no such issue in the memorandum of understanding signed between Nigeria and Saudi Arabia,” he said.

News Express understands that high-level contacts are being made by Nigerian authorities to secure the release of the detained Nigerian women. What is not clear is if many of them will still be in the frame of mind to perform the Hajj after their release.

*Photo, courtesy Daily Trust, shows some of the pilgrims boarding their flight on their way to Saudi Arabia, where they ended up in detention.