The Qatari foreign minister on Thursday welcomed Saudi Arabia’s decision to reopen the two countries’ border to Muslim pilgrims, while lashing out at Riyadh’s “politicization” of religious freedoms.

“Regardless of the manner in which Qataris were banned from the pilgrimage, which was politicized, and the manner in which they were again permitted to make the pilgrimage, which was also politicized… the government of Qatar welcomes the decision and will respond positively,” Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani told a press conference in Stockholm.

Source: AFP