Muslim world, not Riyadh, should run Hajj: Iran’s Parliament

Iran’s lawmakers censured Saudi Arabia for failing to provide security for Hajj pilgrims and said management of Hajj pilgrimage should be transferred to the Muslim world, which can handle the religious rites “in the safest way”.

In a statement on Sunday, the Iranian MPs pointed to a recent crush in Mina, near Mecca, that led to the deaths of hundreds of Hajj pilgrims, including at least 155 Iranians, saying that the incident turned the Eid al-Adha, a major Muslim festival, into a mourning occasion for the Islamic community.

“Today a rightful demand has been raised among Muslims,” the lawmakers stated, adding that the Islamic world is wondering how long its holiest sites, which do not belong to a single country but to the entire Muslim world, should witness such tragic events due to the Saudi government’s poor management of the Hajj rituals.

“Undoubtedly, the high capacity of the Muslim world makes it capable of managing the global Hajj congregation in the safest way,” the Iranian MPs said.

They also called on the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to dispatch a fact-finding mission to Saudi Arabia to investigate the causes of the Mina tragedy.

So far, 155 Iranian pilgrims have been pronounced dead and more than a hundred others are confirmed to have been wounded in the tragic event.

The incident came nearly two weeks after 111 Hajj pilgrims were killed in another tragic incident in Mecca.

On September 11, 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.