Dubai authorities dispel mosque security rumours

Responding to recent rumours and videos circulating across social media about adding security scanners and metal detectors in mosques across the country, Youssef Al Hammadi, a media official at the Dubai Islamic Affairs and Charitable Activities Department, said: “The mosques that are under the authority have nothing to do with this in any way, and everything is normal.”

DUBAI // Authorities have denied there are plans to install security metal detectors in Dubai mosques.

The comment came in response to a video that has gone viral on social media that puports to show walk-through airport-style metal detectors being installed in a Dubai mosque.

Mr Youssef Al Hammadi, of the Dubai Islamic Affairs and Charitable Activities Department, said the video had nothing to do with the mosques under his department’s authority and that “everything is normal”.

Online reports claimed that Dubai had plans to install metal detectors and implement other security measures in mosques across the city after recent bomb attacks targeting mosques in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

Khalid Mohammed, 30, a writer from Egypt, said he would not mind going through metal detectors. “It is a quick process and does not cause any delays,” he said.

“It is a good thing to provide security for worshippers.”

Mohammed Al Daqqaq, 31, a public relations executive from Jordan, said he had been to nine mosques in Abu Dhabi and one in Dubai. None showed any signs of security devices. “There is no construction or any electric cables being set up for such,” he said.

Some luxurious mosques have had CCTV since they opened, he said.