Mr. Hassan Ghashghavi who was speaking to the press about the latest developments in Mina incident of September 2015 criticized the media for their constantly questioning the Foreign Ministry about measures taken to address the rights of the killed pilgrims during the Mina stampede. He contended that his fellow office had been calling to all legal experts and scholars to look into the issue to find possible ways to sue Saudi Arabia for the deaths of hundreds of Iranian pilgrims, yet the advice it received was not hope-inspiring; “Saudi Arabia and Iran have not fully recognized the conventions of the International Court of Justice and thus would not properly file lawsuits in the Court,” Ghashghavi lamented.
“The Foreign Ministry had been in a frantic activity seeking every possibility to bring Saudi Arabia to a court trial; it would be safe to claim that we left no stone unturned in getting advice from all law scholars on the issue; I call the media to stop making constant demands as to what had been the Foreign Minister’s response on Mina incident, since it would be to flog a dead horse now that all legal pathways to sue Saudi rulers had been effectively blocked,” he emphasized.
Ghashghavi however said that according to Hanbali jurisprudence (a branch of Sunni jurisprudence commonly practiced in Saudi Arabia), subjects of a king who are killed in an incident should be recognized by the ruler or the king and be reimbursed from the public treasury; “this is a rule in Saudi Arabia generally practiced and could be applied to Mina incident as well,” he provided some hope, criticizing the general international public who turned a blind eye on the incident.
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