'I was groped and sexually harassed whilst on the Hajj'

The woman said she was shocked at how some men would openly commit sexual offences at Islam’s holiest places.

The woman who did not wish to be named said she spoke out because it was something few people had raised and she had spoken to many other women since who had gone through similar experiences.

She also felt people did not speak out because of shame and not wanting to paint the pilgrimage 'in a bad light'.

She said, “I was only 18 years old.

“I might have been naive, but you go to Hajj with this spiritual idea that you're going to the house of God and everything will be wonderful.

“But the moment I got there I felt violated. Literally every time I was out I was touched up.

“It was mainly Asian men who did it, you could tell.

“I was shocked when I went to the Masjid al-Haram in Makkah when a man actually grabbed me down below.

“My bum was regularly being groped.”

Muslims from across the world go on the annual Hajj and many more also go on the Umrah to visit the holy sites of Makkah and Medina.

She says she did not raise the issue at first but then the assaults continued.

“When I did the walk when you throw the stones at the shaytaan, someone grabbed hold of my waist. I couldn't shake him off because there were so many people there.

“Those men think they can get away with it because the area is so crowded.”

She later became anxious and was too embarrassed to tell her parents.

“I was really wary that everywhere I was going, I had to protect myself.

“This is the one place where you should be able to feel safe.

“On one occasion we were walking back from the mosque and there was a line of us, me, my mum and two aunties and their husbands and I saw this guy from the corner of my eye looking suspicious. I tried to manoeuvre myself out of his range, but he kept following me.

"At that stage I was at the end of my tether. That's when I cracked and I shouted, 'What do you want to do? Why don't you just leave me alone.'

“That's when my aunty and uncle stepped in.”

She remembers meeting another teenager who was also groped.

“Medina wasn't as bad as it wasn't as busy, but there were men who kept stretching their arms out to touch women's breasts and then they would pretend that it had happened by mistake.

“After being harassed throughout the duration of the trip, I had had enough. I grabbed one person's arm and shouted, 'Keep your hands to yourself. Don't f***ing touch me.'

“I met another 18-year-old girl in Medina who said she had gone through the exact same traumatic experience as me, so I knew it wasn't just me.

“I have been on holiday's to Pakistan and men do harass you there too, but it was nothing compared to Hajj.

“Isn't it a sad thing that what I remember of my Hajj is being sexually harassed.”