Saudis playing blame game in Hajj crush: Commentator

Press TV has conducted an interview with Mojtaba Ali, a documentary maker and political commentator, in London, to ask for his insight on the Saudi kingdom’s mismanagement of the Hajj.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: Why do you think Saudi authorities are not cooperating with Tehran and other countries the way you would expect them to?

Ali: I think the biggest issue is that laying the blame elsewhere with Saudi Arabia as soon as the tragedy happened. The first thing that Saudi Arabia decided to do was to blame it on the African pilgrims, from then defected to blaming Iranian pilgrims, and then went onto blaming God in quite a ridiculous manner. And there has been a lot condemnation from all sides, saying that Saudi Arabia should really focus on what actually happened, what actually went wrong rather than blaming ethnic groups of the tragic incident that happened.

And this hasn’t happened for the first time, we have seen this happen many years before numerous times, for example in 2006 with 364 pilgrims died, in 1997 and 1994. So, this is an incident that hasn’t happened once and there needs to be some crowd control to prevent incidents like this happening, rather than blaming ethnic groups.

 Press TV: Well, there are those who point out that the main reason behind this was of course mismanagement on the part of the Saudis and of course the VIP culture so to speak when it comes to the Hajj rituals, where the VIPs are afforded exclusive access, while people are crammed into small alleys and pathways, what do you make of that?

Ali: There are, I mean, speaking to certain pilgrims. We have someone, Mohammad Jafari, who is an advisor to the Hajj and Umrah Travel to operate in the UK, who said talking to pilgrims on the ground; they say the main reason for this accident was that the king and his palace were receiving dignitaries, including the minister of defense and members of the [P]GCC. And for this reason, they decided to close two entrances. And of course, this could have resulted in the tragedy that took place.

So, it’s unfortunate, and we’ve seen on many clips online that shows when Saudi officials or members of the royal family come to Mecca and go through the Hajj rituals, they close roads, they make space for them; and it’s unfortunate that these things happen and tragedies take place like this. But there are pilgrims and there are witness accounts, they are saying that the Saudi authorities were not prepared for this kind of incident.

And many many report of members of the state officials, who have decided to come to perform the ritual act of stoning the devil and roads were closed due to this. And this could have resulted in the death of these individuals. However, there needs to be a thorough investigation as to what actually took place; and hopefully we’ll see what happens.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.ir