“I hope for a fundamental revolution leading to the total elimination of Wahhabism,” said Saeid Owhadi, the Head of Iran's Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization, on Thursday, “to have normal relations with Saudi Arabia and resume the dispatch of pilgrims, KSA should make a serious change in its behavior.”
The official recounted that a total of 477 Iranian pilgrims were killed in last year events of Saudi Arabia; 465 of them in Mina tragedy of September 24, 2015 and 12 pilgrims in the crane fall in the grand mosque on September 11, 2015. He added that 4 pilgrims died, due to serious injuries inflicted in Mina, after return to Iran.
“Forty of Iranian pilgrims were buried by Saudis in Mecca, while 37 of them were permitted by the bereaved families and the other three were hoped to be returned to Iran as the families demanded the return of the bodies of their lost family members,” asserted the Iranian top official of Hajj, “the follow-up to return the three was aborted by Saudis after the severance of diplomatic ties.”
He stressed that due to Saudis’ refusal to issue visas for Iranians nothing could be done to follow up the case.
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