Iran says Saudi Arabia’s control of Haj should end | World News - Hindustan Times
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Iran says Saudi Arabia’s control of Haj should end

ByReuters, Dubai
Sep 05, 2016 06:08 PM IST

Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei renewed criticism of Saudi Arabia over how it runs the Haj after a crush last year killed hundreds of pilgrims, and suggested Muslim countries think about ending Riyadh’s control of the annual pilgrimage.

Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei renewed criticism of Saudi Arabia over how it runs the Haj after a crush last year killed hundreds of pilgrims, and suggested Muslim countries think about ending Riyadh’s control of the annual pilgrimage.

In this Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2015 file photo, hundreds of thousands of Muslim pilgrims pray outside Namira mosque in Arafat, on the second and most significant day of the annual hajj pilgrimage, near the holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia.(AP)
In this Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2015 file photo, hundreds of thousands of Muslim pilgrims pray outside Namira mosque in Arafat, on the second and most significant day of the annual hajj pilgrimage, near the holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia.(AP)

“Because of these (Saudi) rulers’ oppressive behaviour towards God’s guests (pilgrims), the world of Islam must fundamentally reconsider the management of the two holy places and the issue of Haj,” Khamenei said in a message carried by his Website and Iran’s state media.

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“They must not let those rulers escape responsibility for the crimes they have caused throughout the world of Islam,” Khamenei said, listing Saudi Arabia’s involvement in conflicts in areas including Iraq, Yemen and Syria on the side of forces Iran opposes.

In this Sept. 24, 2015, file photo, a Muslim pilgrim walks through the site where dead bodies are gathered after a stampede during the annual hajj pilgrimage, in Mina, Saudi Arabia. (AP)
In this Sept. 24, 2015, file photo, a Muslim pilgrim walks through the site where dead bodies are gathered after a stampede during the annual hajj pilgrimage, in Mina, Saudi Arabia. (AP)

Custodian of Islam’s most revered places in Mecca and Medina, Saudi Arabia stakes its reputation on organising Haj, one of the five pillars of Islam which every able-bodied Muslim who can afford to is obliged to undertake at least once.

Its prestige was damaged by the 2015 disaster, in which Riyadh said 769 pilgrims were killed -- the highest Haj death toll since a crush in 1990. Counts of fatalities by countries who repatriated bodies showed that over 2,000 people may have died in the crush, more than 400 of them Iranians.

Iran, Saudi Arabia’s main regional rival, blamed the disaster on organisers’ incompetence. Pilgrims from Iran will be unable to attend Haj, which starts on September 11, this year after talks between the two countries on arrangements broke down in May.

An official Saudi inquiry has yet to be published, but authorities suggested at the time some pilgrims ignored crowd control rules.

Riyadh accuses Tehran of destabilising Arab states and spreading sectarianism by backing militias in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen and fomenting unrest in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. Iran denies those charges.

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