I recently visited Saudi Arabia for the Haj pilgrimage and was disgusted by the prevalence of cigarette smoking in the Kingdom. People carelessly smoked outdoors and indoors even when signs were clearly posted prohibiting this activity. I observed smokers in the Jeddah and Riyadh airports and at hotels in Makkah and Madinah. I suffer from asthma but I could not even complain at the airports because the employees and officers themselves were smoking! At the Riyadh airport, I noticed that someone had stuffed tissue paper in the smoke detector so it would not go off. It is hard to believe that Saudi Arabia can build world-class hotels and facilities but cannot strictly enforce its own no-smoking laws to protect the health of the pilgrims and its own citizens. I hope to visit Saudi Arabia again in the future. But next time I will bring an oxygen tank.
Zehra Kazmi, Chicago, IL, USA