Independent: Hajj Accident Points Finger at Al-Sauds

As the Saudi ruling family attempts to contain the fallout by ordering an immediate investigation and promising quick results, evidence is mounting that – despite efforts to blame crowd indiscipline – it is the authorities who are most at fault, the British The Independent daily reported Saturday.

“The Hajj stampede disaster has put further strains on the ruling al-Saud family,” it said.

The paper quoted eye witnesses who described apparently inexperienced and unprepared police and emergency workers.

“Even more damaging is the allegation that the disaster was caused by two key roads being closed off to accommodate members of the royal family,” it noted.

The analytical report stated that the tragedy comes just a week after a letter, said to be from a senior Saudi prince, was circulated via the Twitter account of @mujtahidd, a dissident who has frequently leaked embarrassing details of feuds within the family.

“The letter called for the 13 surviving sons of King Abdulaziz, the founding ruler, to demand the removal not only of King Salman – crowned earlier this year – but also of Mohammed bin Nayef, who is the Crown Prince and Interior Minister, and of Mohammed bin Salman, the king’s favored son,” it said.

“The letter speaks of “the impotence” of King Salman, who is reportedly suffering from dementia, calls Mohammed bin Nayef “arrogant” and the king’s son “a rotten robber”. It also criticizes the Saudi-led war in Yemen, which began six months ago today. It was MbS, at 28 or 29 (opinions vary) the world’s youngest minister of defense, who first proposed the war. The letter sneeringly refers to him as “the teenager”,” it added.

Moreover, The Independent hinted at the Saudi-led war on Yemen, stating that “with a young hot-head in charge of a war with no end in sight, the Crown Prince in charge of the probe into what went wrong and a family bitterly divided, the competence of the House of Saud is in question as never before,” it concluded.