Tehran Friday prayer leader deplores international silence on Saudi role in Mina tragedy

Rasa – A senior Iranian cleric deplored a muted response by the countries whose nationals were killed in a September 2015 crush of Hajj pilgrims in Mina, although being aware that the Saudi regime has been at fault.

News ID: 423367

Date: 09 September 2016 - 19:23

RNA – Addressing Friday Prayers worshippers in Tehran, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati expressed surprise that the countries of the world have given in to Saudi injustice and cruelty so easily.

Out of around 7,000 pilgrims killed in last year’s tragic incident, approximately 460 were from Iran, Ayatollah Jannati noted, saying the question is why the other countries have not bothered to defend the rights of their nationals and have not demanded any explanation from Saudi Arabia.

The senior cleric, who also chairs Iran’s Assembly of Experts, underscored that the Islamic Republic of Iran will spare no effort to keep criticizing the Riyadh regime and expressing disgust at it for its incompetence which led to the death of thousands of pilgrims.

More than 460 Iranians were among over 7,000 pilgrims who died on September 24, 2015, in a crush in Mina, near Makkah, during the Hajj pilgrimage.

The incident marked the worst ever tragedy during Hajj.

On Wednesday, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei, criticized the international human rights organizations for hue and cry about judicial verdicts in some countries, and added, “The absolute silence on a government’s failure to fulfill its duties and on the death of 7,000 innocent and poor people, laid bare the false nature of the global advocates of human rights.”

R111/112/E