Al Saud Must Be Put On Trial for Mina Tragedy
Addressing Eid al-Adha prayers worshipers in a sermon on Monday, Hojat-ol-Islam Ahmad Khatami added that the Saudi rulers must be prosecuted for their failure to ensure the safety of Hajj pilgrims and the Min a tragedy which left hundreds of pilgrims dead last year.
An Islamic court should put the Riyadh regime officials on trial for their crimes against the pilgrims, he stated.
According to the cleric, a committee made up of Muslim world elites should be responsible for managing the holy sites, or at least running Hajj.
Hojat-ol-Islam Khatami further regretted the silence of the Muslim world over the Saudi crimes, noting that while those killed in the Mina tragedy were from 37 Islamic countries, no other country than Iran raised their voice against Riyadh.
He also described the inaction of international organizations over the tragedy as disgraceful.
More than 4700 pilgrims died on September 24, 2015, in a crush in Mina, near Mecca during the Hajj pilgrimage.
The incident marked the worst ever tragedy during Hajj.
Iranian Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization put the final number of Iranian pilgrims killed in the disaster at 464.
The incident came nearly two weeks after tens of Hajj pilgrims were killed in another tragic incident in Mecca.
On September 11, 2015, a massive construction crane crashed into Mecca’s Grand Mosque in stormy weather, killing at least 107 people, including 11 Iranians, and injuring 201 others.
Saudi authorities have come under fire for their inability to ensure the safety of hundreds of thousands of pilgrims who converge on Mecca every year.
