28 September 2015 Official records
show that the name of the former Iranian ambassador to Beirut Ghazanfar Abadi
does not appear among this year's pilgrims, sources have told Al Arabiya
News. If his presence during the pilgrimage is
confirmed, that would mean he entered the Kingdom by ''unknown ways,'' possibly
registering with a different name and description. He is feared to have died
in the Mina stampede. Abadi, who worked as the
country's ambassador in Beirut until last year, has been declared missing,
Iran's state TV said. An Iranian broadcast said that two state TV reporters
and a prominent political analyst were also missing after the stampede, which
killed at least 769.
He confirmed to local media that around 123,950 people were turned back for
not having Haj permits along with more than 36,000 vehicles that were not
authorized to enter the Mashair, in addition to 1,340 who transported
violators. He said all those captured were referred to relevant authorities
and confirmed that five fake Haj offices have been caught and more than 200
people who don't have Haj permits have been fingerprinted.
He said that this year's plan focused on moving pilgrims from one holy site
to the next easily and smoothly and in record time. The plan was completed
early. Work on this plan started at the end of the last Haj season and the
positive side has been developed and previous negative points were avoided.
He added that some people revert to new cheating methods to get to the
Mashair; some of them tried to sneak in wearing female clothes, but many
attempts have been frustrated, thanks to the vigilance of security forces.
Al-Souli underlined that 58 fake Haj offices were monitored this year as well
as the people behind them. Officials will not allow any attempt to carry on
such activities and they will be on the look out for these illegal activities Quoting the Iranian official, Asharq Al-Awsat,
a sister publication of Arab News, said: ''Violations began when a group of
300 Iranian pilgrims started moving from Muzdalifa straight to Jamarat,
instead of first going to their camps as is generally practiced by Haj
pilgrims, to wait for the time of movement of their group. Then they moved in
the opposite direction on Street 203 where the painful incident took place.''
As per the guidelines, this group did not wait for the stone-throwing ritual
in Jamarat Al-Aqba in their camp until the fixed time. This group decided to
return from the opposite direction which also coincided with the movement of
other groups as per their set schedules for pelting pebbles, resulting in the
tragedy, said the Sabq.org website citing Iranian sources.
They said the group of Iranian pilgrims waited for some time and did not move
in the opposite direction. This increased pressure and pushed the pilgrims to
exit on the road, which is no wider than 20 meters.
The Asharq Al-Awsat report said that there were cameras in Jamarat, which
revealed the details of the incident and confirmed the Iranian group's wrong
move. That actually was time for Turkish pilgrims to come out. Comments 💬 التعليقات |