MAKKAH, 30 May 2008 — The district of Al-Zaharin, which is located a few kilometers away from Makkah, consists of scattered buildings and winding roads that give it a deserted feel during the day. But, as the sun slides down behind the distant mountains, Al-Zaharin’s narrow alleyways spring to life and beat with every conceivable illegal pursuit.
Bootleggers, drug dealers, sex-workers and robbers saturate the area as a cloud of darkness descends. Drunken brawls and cries of help by the victims of thieves are regular features of this neighborhood, which reminds one of a border village in the Wild West.
Although the name Al-Zaharin is associated with an old Makkan tribe, most of the present residents of this village are illegal Africans. Very few members of the original tribe lives there now.
On a visit to the area, Arab News learned that the majority of Al-Zaharin’s original inhabitants had left the district due to a lack of security. In the absence of an effective police presence in the area, people are at threat of being robbed, beaten or even murdered in daylight.
Outsiders, apparently, do not dare venture inside, even during the daytime. The only safe way I, as a reporter, could think of entering was to pose as a private taxi driver looking for passengers wishing to go to Al-Zaharin from Makkah.
I parked my car on the Mansura taxi stand one evening last week. After waiting for a while, three Africans approached me and asked me to take them to Al-Zaharin. Once I had dropped them off, I drove around the area and came across some Saudis.
I asked them about life in the area. They looked scared and were initially hesitant. I assured them that I was not a police officer but a journalist who could be trusted. When I convinced them that I was harmless, they told me things that nobody could believe without seeing.
“The village wakes up like a wild beast in the evening and becomes ferocious as the night progresses,” said one of the men called Abdullah. “No stranger entering this place is safe. The criminal elements have a free hand on the unlit streets,” he added.
In the gathering dusk, one of them pointed at a passing young woman dressed in a tight abaya, which emphasized her well-shaped body. “You’ve got to be careful round here. Girls like that are known to lure youths from outside the district. They take them to secluded areas where their accomplices lie in wait. Men are known to get beaten up and robbed,” he added.
Abdullah said that it is very simple for a woman like that to get a client in the city’s districts. “She only needs to walk around on the Mansura Street to tempt some stupid youth to fall into her trap. Youths are known to follow such women and offer them free lifts. She might ask one of them to take her home and then lead the person to a place where her male friends would be waiting,” he said.
“She’d then come out of the car crying for help saying the driver was about to rape her. The men would then drag the youth from the car and rob him. They would also beat him up, and often break his car windows,” he said.
“They usually take their victims to different locations as a defensive strategy in case police see them. Even police rarely patrol this place. Women, girls and boys of the neighborhood, without exception, are involved in various illegal trades such as brewing liquor, selling drugs or pick pocketing,” said Abdullah.
“The illegal residents here are not worried about not having formal documents, except when a child is born or when someone dies. Cemeteries do not accept dead bodies unless they’re accompanied with official permission. An illegal migrant would never go to an official for the burial permit, risking his own survival,” he said.
He added that the residents are known to leave dead bodies on the nearest main road. “Shortly the police would get a call about someone lying dead on the road. The police immediately take the body to a hospital where the coroner would determine if it was a murder or natural death. In either case, the police would ensure the body is buried properly,” he said.
There were also alleged instances of illegal residents in the district registering their newborns as Saudi citizens, the man said. This is done with the help of corrupt officials who collude with them to forge fake documents, said another Saudi man.
Makkah Police Spokesman Maj. Abdul Mohsen Al-Mayman told Arab News that the police regularly patrol the neighborhood. The official admitted that unclaimed dead bodies were often found on sidewalks attributing the issue to the larger problem of the violation of residence regulations.
He added that the Ministry of Health was the authority responsible for investigating fake birth certificates that could be used for registering a newborn as Saudi. With regard to youths being subjected to robbery, he said the police received very few complaints.
