Pilgrims Hold Riyadh Responsible for Mina Tragedy, Call for Trial of Perpetrators

“The Saudi security forces closed all exit ways to the pilgrims,” Sho’aib Jebrayeel, a pilgrim from Nigeria, told FNA on Wednesday.

He noted that this move by the Saudi forces resulted in a pile-up of pilgrims in a narrow street and caused their consequent suffocation.

Jebrayeel pointed to the Saudi officials’ statements who blamed the black pilgrims and African nationals for the tragedy, and said, “This is sheer lie and Saudi Arabia is trying to distort the realities.

Meantime, Abdullah al-Farouq, another Nigerian whose brother has gone missing in Mina incident told FNA that the Saudi officials’ mismanagement and lax security measures resulted in the Hajj tragedy.

“If the Saudi officials had conducted proper planning, this tragedy would have never happened and the Saudi government is solely responsible for the incident; the Saudi regime is trying to shrug off responsibility,” he added.

An Algerian pilgrim, Hesameddin Qorfi, also blamed Saudi Arabia for the Mina tragedy.

A stampede during one of the last rituals of the Hajj season killed 4,173 people and left 2,000 wounded.

The stampede occurred during the ritual known as “stoning the devil” in the tent city of Mina, about two miles from Mecca.

At least 239 Iranians have lost their lives in the incident, while 150 others have been wounded. The latest reports said 26 Iranian pilgrims are still hospitalized in Saudi Arabia, while others have either died or been treated and left the hospital, preparing to come back to home.

Meantime, sources revealed that the convoy of Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Crown Prince and Defense Minister Mohammad bin Salman Al Saud caused panic among millions of pilgrims and started the stampede.

“The large convoy of Mohammad bin Salman Al Saud, the King’s son and deputy crown prince, that was escorted by over 350 security forces, including 200 army men and 150 policemen, sped up the road to go through the pilgrims that were moving towards the site of the ‘Stoning the Devil’ ritual, causing panic among millions of pilgrims who were on the move from the opposite direction and caused the stampede,” several Arab papers, including the Arabic language al-Dyar newspaper, disclosed on Thursday evening.

“That’s why the ruler of Mecca has distanced himself from the case, stressing that the issue should be studied and decided by the King,” it added.

No other source has yet confirmed the report, but observers said the revelation explains why two of the roads to the ‘Stoning the Devil’ site has been closed.

Eye witnesses said earlier that the Saudi police and security forces had closed two of the few roads to the stone column that were to be used by millions of pilgrims to do the ‘Stoning the Devil’ ritual today.

Saeed Ohadi, the head of Iran’s Hajj organization, accused Saudi Arabia of safety errors and mismanagement.

He said for “unknown reasons” the paths had been closed off near the scene of the symbolic stoning of the devil ritual where the accident later took place.

“This caused this tragic incident,” he told the Iranian state television.

Eyewitness accounts said that even after incident the Saudi security and military forces closed all paths leading to the scene and the bodies of pilgrims have piled up on each other.