TEHRAN,(ST)_Thousands of Iranian people staged on Friday rallies protesting the Saudi Hajj mismanagement that led to the death of 131 Iranian pilgrims.
According to IRNA, the protestors held banners reading “Down with Saudi Arabia’.
They also condemned the Saudi-led aggression against Yemen.
Saeid Owhadi, Head of the Iranian Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization said in a televised interview with the IRIB, that early Friday morning the Iranian officials managed to reach agreement with the Saudi Hajj Ministry officials to establish four field investigation groups to survey the status of the dead and injured Iranian pilgrims who are now in various hospitals and healthcare centers.
‘We hope to gain more precise statistics maximum by the day-end Friday, or early Saturday morning, including the dead, the injured and the lost Iranian pilgrims,’ he added.
Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has declared three days of national mourning following the deaths of several hundred Hajj pilgrims, including Iranians, in the holy city of Mecca.
According to the latest statistics, some 1,300 Hajj pilgrims form various countries have lost their lives in deadly Thursday Mina stampede due to negligence of Saudi officials, while more that 2000 more are among the injured victims and an unidentified number of them are thus far lost unfortunately in Mecca.
Basma Qaddour