Shariatmadari to Al-Ahed: Saudi Arabia Did not Respect the Sanctity of Pilgrims’ Bodies, Exacerbated Disaster

Mariam Zreik

Only resolute words were enough to awaken the Saudis from their organizational swoon and inaction. The words Imam Sayyed Ali Khamenei delivered were akin to a blow in the face, to warn that there are those who are deliberately neglecting the issue of Iranian pilgrims that fell among other pilgrims in the Mina tragedy.

"We have seen since yesterday a bit of technical cooperation following the speech, but no official reports or statistics about the incident have been issued as of yet", confirmed the Iranian cultural attaché in Lebanon Mohammad Mahdi Shariatmadari.

He added in an interview with al-Ahed News: "the repercussions of the speech came immediately, as the Saudi health minister vowed not to bury the bodies in his country, but that they will rather be sent to Iran so that the process of determining the identities of the victims would be carried out."

The first death toll for the Iranian martyrs reached 150, and it was agreed that they be transferred to Iran where ceremonies await them. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani hurried from New York to participate, "but the Saudi side has not fulfilled its promise," stresses Shariatmadari.

In reference to the reason for the delay in the transfer of the bodies to their country, the cultural attaché explained that "the reports confirm that the pilgrims' pure bodies have not been kept in special refrigerators, but rather piled into trucks, which led to them swelling and sticking to each other, and their disfigurement to a large extent."

He highlighted three points, the first being that the manner in which the bodies were recovered from the scene led to the worsening of the disaster and the death of a number of those injured.

He also pointed secondly, to the disregard of the sanctity of the pilgrims' bodies, which led to the deterioration of their condition.

Shariatmadari said thirdly, that the conduct of Saudi authorities summoned Iran to reach an agreement with them to hand over the bodies to Tehran to carry out the task of identifying them.

The cultural attaché spoke about the declaration of the Iranian Hajj organization in which it it mourned the casualties and missing persons as martyrs, and that their number has reached 464, and stressed that the majority of the injured, who were about 60 and 70 in number, had left Saudi hospitals.

Commenting on the news of the death of former Iranian Ambassador to Lebanon Ghadanfar Rokon Abadi and other diplomats, Shariatmadari said: "Since the inspection has ended, and a sweep of all the hospitals that received the bodies and injured was conducted. The Iranian Hajj Organization issued a statement, in which it considered all those who have not come to the missions as martyrs.

Finally, the Iranian attaché touched on the reluctance of some states to mention the numbers of victims, saying that this fear is caused by special considerations towards their relations with Saudi Arabia.

Source: al-Ahed News, Translated and edited by website team