Makkah (AsiaNews/Agencies) – After reading some verses from the Qur‘an Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad left for Makkah this morning with the holy book in his hand on the hajj, the pilgrimage that every Muslim must accomplished at least one in his or her lifetime. The Iranian leader is one of a thousand people attending the hajj at the personal invitation of Saudi King Abdullah and the first president of the predominantly Shia Islamic Republic to do so.
Ahmadinejad’s arrival marks a further step in Riyadh’s diplomatic involvement in several tense regional issues, ranging from the Israeli-Palestinian relations to those between Hamas and Fatah and Lebanon and Syria. Saudi Arabia’s goal is twofold: stop Tehran’s expansionism in favour of regional coexistence and prevent such regional issues from having any domestic repercussions that might threaten the stability of the Saudi monarchy.
Ahmadinejad will be the most closely watched of the million and half pilgrims who have already arrived in Islam’s holiest city, this according to Saudi Arabia’s official news agency SPA citing figures released by the Central Control of Hajj Security.
The pilgrimage has often been marked by violence and death as a result of huge crowds swamping the city as a whole as well as its religious sites. The Saudi Health Ministry has in fact already reported 254 deaths, mostly elderly, and all by natural causes. Last year 345 people died during the ‘stoning of the devil’ ritual in which pilgrims throw stones at images of the evil one and another 76 died as a result of the collapse of a hostel.
Some 11,000 doctors and nurses have been mobilised to cope with all potential health emergencies spread between 21 hospitals in the holy places of Makkah, Madinah and Mount Ararat.
In the past pilgrims have been killed in demonstrations and terrorist attacks. The worst incident probably took place in 1979 when hundreds of people (the exact figure is not known) died as a result of an attack by fundamentalists who seized the Grand Mosque.
Saudi security services have imposed very tight security on the city. In the past weeks some 200 alleged al-Qaeda militants have been arrested.
Access to Makkah is possible however only if the country of origin issues the appropriate travel permit. Some 2,200 Gazans are among this year’s would-be pilgrims and have applied to Israeli authorities for travel permits to take part in the Hajj.
