Tag Archives: Saudi Arabia

Over 700 People Killed in Stampede in Hajj Pilgrimage Near Mecca

According to Saudi Arabia officials, more than 700 people have been killed and more than 800 have been injured in a stampede as millions of Muslims made their pilgrimage, or hajj, to Mecca.

The stampede took place about two miles from Mecca in a tent city called Mina during the ritual known as “stoning the devil.” Pilgrims sleep in 160,000 tents in Mina during the hajj because it is located in a valley where the symbolic stone throwing ritual is held. During the “stoning of the devil,” pebbles are thrown at three stone pillars that represent the devil.

Saudi Arabia’s civil defense directorate reported that the stampede occurred when a large number of pilgrims surged at an intersection of two streets. Saudi Arabia’s health minister released a statement baling the tragedy on the pilgrims who didn’t follow directions, according to CNN.

Hours after the stampede, pilgrims continued their journey. One pilgrim, Ethar El-Katatney, was near the site of the stampede five hours after it happened. She watched as medical personnel and police officers pulled bodies out of the edges of the crowd.

“I saw the ambulances, I saw bodies. … At least 20, 30 ambulances passed me by,” she told CNN by phone as she tried to reach the pillars herself.

NBC reports that more than 220 rescue vehicles and 4,000 first responders were at the site.

Thursday’s stampede is the deadliest pilgrimage incident since 1990, when 1,426 people were killed in an overcrowded tunnel leading to Mecca’s holy site. Since then, crushes and stampedes leading to many deaths have taken place in 1994, 1998, 2001, 2004, and 2006.

9/11 Mecca Crane Collapse Called “Act of God”

The collapse of a crane at the Grand Mosque in Mecca on 9/11 is being called an “act of God” by local officials and engineers.

The crane, owned by the Bin Laden family, collapsed Friday killing 107 people just before the start of the annual hajj pilgrimage.  Hundreds were left severely wounded by the collapse.

Witnesses said the giant polished white floor of the mosque turned red from the blood of all the victims.

The Saudi Arabia civil defense directorate said that a rainstorm with very high winds swept into the city on 9/11 and toppled the giant red and white crane.  The crane then fell into the court of the mosque.

The Saudi Binladin Group (SBG) reported the project had been on that site for almost four years without any problems taking place.

“It was not a technical issue at all. I can only say that what happened was beyond the power of humans. It was an act of God and, to my knowledge, there was no human fault in it at all,” an engineer for SBG told reporters.

He said the crane’s heavy hook began to swing in the storm and then caused the collapse.

Saudi Prince Says Iran Deal Worse Than North Korea Deal

One of America’s biggest allies in the Middle East is not happy with the Iran nuclear deal and one of their major leaders spoke out against it.

Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan, who had been Saudi ambassador to the United States from 1981 to 2005, has written a column where he compares the Iran nuclear deal to a similar deal with North Korea that failed.

Prince Bandar claims the failure of the Iran deal will have worse consequences.

The Prince writes in his column that former President Bill Clinton would not have agreed to the deal had he known all the facts and that the deal with North Korea showed “the strategic foreign policy analysis was wrong and there was a major intelligence failure” according to a translation of the piece by the Washington Post.

He says the same situation applies to the Iran deal “where the strategic foreign policy analysis, the national intelligence information, and America’s allies in the region’s intelligence all predict not only the same outcome of the North Korean nuclear deal but worse – with the billions of dollars that Iran will have access to.”

Prince Bandar said that Saudi leaders are looking at the possibility that they will have to act without or against America in dealing with Iran.

“People in my region now are relying on God’s will, and consolidating their local capabilities and analysis with everybody else except our oldest and most powerful ally,” he writes.

The writing seemed to back up the claims of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the proposed deal.

“Iran will get a jackpot, a cash bonanza of hundreds of billions of dollars, which will enable it to continue to pursue its aggression and terror in the region and in the world,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday. “One cannot prevent an agreement when negotiators are willing to make more and more concessions to those who, even during the talks, keep chanting: ‘Death to America.’ ”

The United Nations voted to endorse the Iranian deal Monday morning.

Saudi Arabia Sentences Man To Death For Renouncing Islam

An Islamic court in Saudi Arabia has given a death sentence to a man who renounced his Muslim faith.

The man posted an online video of himself ripping up a Koran and then hitting it with a shoe as he said he was no longer a Muslim.

A witness in the court says the video was played showing “’In the video he cursed God, Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and his daughter Fatimah and ripped a copy of the Holy Qur’an and hit it with a shoe.”  The death sentence was then immediately handed down.

Saudi Arabia, a key U.S. ally in the fight against ISIS, follows the Wahhabi Sunni Muslim school and gives clerics control over the justice system.  Renouncing Islam brings a death sentence along with other crimes like blasphemy and criticism of senior Muslim clerics.

Executions in Saudi Arabia are usually public beheadings.

Former Al Qaeda Operative Claims Saudis Donated To Terror Group

Zacharias Moussaoui, the former Al Qaeda terrorist incarcerated in the Federal SuperMax Prison, has claimed that members of the Saudi royal family contributed money to Al-Qaeda.

Among the claims of Moussaoui was that he discussed the shooting down of Air Force One using a Stinger missile with a member of the Saudi Embassy in Washington, D.C.  He also said that he created a digital database of donors at the instruction of al-Qaeda leaders which included Prince Turki al-Faisal, Prince Bandar Bin Sultan and Prince al-Waleed bin Talal.

The Saudi government quickly denounced the report.

“Moussaoui is a deranged criminal whose own lawyers presented evidence that he was mentally incompetent,” a statement from the Saudi embassy read. “His words have no credibility.”

While Moussaoui did receive a mental illness diagnosis by a psychologist on his defense team, he was found competent to stand trial for terrorism charges and sentenced to life in prison.

The statements were released as part of a lawsuit against Saudi Arabia by relatives of the 9/11 attack victims.

Saudi King Abdullah Dead At 90

A man who was seen as a major stabilizing figure in the turbulent Middle East is dead at the age of 90.

Saudi King Abdullah died early Friday after what palace sources called “a short illness.”  Abdullah had ruled Saudi Arabia since 2005 after the death of King Fahd.

Many residents of the nation saw Abdullah as a reformer.  He allowed women the right to vote and to compete in the Olympics.  He maintained close relationships with the United States and Britain, buying most of the nation’s defense equipment from the two nations.

He also made domestic violence against women a crime for the first time in the nation’s history.

He was also a major opponent to Islamic terrorism and called it not only a threat to the region but also to Islam.  He launched education programs that were aimed at stopping Al-Qaeda from gaining a foothold with youth.  He also took actions to keep the most extreme parts of Saudi Arabia’s religious establishment from being able to spread their message in the nation.

King Abdullah was found through diplomatic messages published by Wikileaks to have asked the United States to implant microchips on all terrorists at Guantanamo Bay to allow world governments to track their movements.  He also privately urged the U.S. to attack Iran to destroy their nuclear program.

Former Crown Prince Salman became King.  He appointed officials to new roles within hours of the death of King Abdullah, unusual in the Saudi succession pattern, which usually took months.  Reportedly King Salman wanted to “show strength to Islamic extremists” that “Saudi Arabia is united.”

Saudi Arabia Starts Building 600 Mile Wall To Fight ISIS

The royal family of Saudi Arabia is taking pro-active steps to fight the Islamic terrorist group ISIS by building a 600-mile long wall to block the Iraq/Saudi border.

The fence will run from Jordan to Kuwait.  The fencing system will five layers of barbed wire fencing, a ditch, a patrol road, underground motion sensors, 40 watchtowers, radar, day/night cameras and rapid intervention teams.

The entire system will also be connected through a fiber-optic network.

The royal family had first thought about a wall in 2006 during the U.S. invasion of Iraq but put the plan in motion after ISIS tried to sneak into the country through the border town of Arar.

The Saudi military has already sent 30,000 additional troops to the border to secure it.

ISIS top leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has called on Sunnis within Saudi Arabia to being terrorist attacks on the royal family.

ISIS Kills Border Guard In Saudi Arabia

Islamic terrorist group ISIS has launched their first attack against Saudi Arabia.

Four terrorists attacked a Saudi border patrol post on the Iraq/Saudi border that left three Saudi border patrol officers dead along with two others injured.

The attack is the first since the Islamists stated their desire in November to take over Saudi Arabia.

The Saudi Press Agency said the four terrorists were caught attempting to sneak over the border around 4:30 a.m. by a lone border patrol agent.  The terrorists opened fire and killed the agent.

More agents were sent after the terrorists.  One killed two agents when he detonated a suicide vest.  All four terrorists were killed.

“It is the first attack by Islamic State itself against Saudi Arabia and is a clear message after Saudi Arabia entered the international coalition against it,” an Iraqi security analyst with close ties to the Saudi interior ministry, Mustafa Alani, told Reuters.

The Saudi government has built a 600-mile long fence along their border with Iraq.  They have contributed to the U.S. led effort to destroy ISIS.

Saudi Arabian Law May Mean Death Sentence For Bible Smugglers

A new law passed in Saudi Arabia could impose the death sentence on people who bring Bibles into the country and anyone else who distributes information about a religion that is not Islam.

“The new law extends to the importing of all illegal drugs and ‘all publications that have a prejudice to any other religious beliefs other than Islam,’” Paul Washer’s HeartCry Missionary Society outlines in a post on their website. “In other words, anyone who attempts to bring Bibles or gospel literature into the country will have all materials confiscated and be imprisoned and sentenced to death.”

The Saudi Arabian embassy in Washington has been refusing to confirm or deny the new law.

Members of the HeartCry Missionary Society reminded Christian News about the fact Christians in Saudi Arabia are routinely harassed by Muslims with virtual immunity.

“Christians are raped, abducted, murdered, and beaten on a daily basis. Saudis who accept Christ as their Savior are choosing to pick up a cross of ostracism, discrimination, harassment, and even death,” it outlines. “They risk losing their jobs, access to education for their children, or even the right to basic utilities like water and electricity.”

The Open Doors International list of the 100 most dangerous places for a Christian to live has Saudi Arabia at number 6.

Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Could Be Airborne

The deadly Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) could be more dangerous than scientists had been lead to believe after air samples showed airborne evidence of the virus.

Researchers with King Fahd Medical Research Center in Saudi Arabia released a paper about air samples taken from the barn of a camel that had been infected with the virus.  The owner of the camel contracted MERS and died.

The scientists say that a second camel tested positive for the virus after the man’s death and that air samples within the barn showed one strain of MERS RNA.

The virus in the same was identical to the virus in the first camel and the virus in the human victim.

American researchers were quick to say that just because they found the virus in the air it doesn’t mean that it’s automatically transmitted via airborne particle.

“What they say is that virus particles can be airborne, but it’s premature to conclude that MERS is transmitted through aerosols,” Dr. Mark Denison, a professor of pathology, microbiology and immunology at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine told CNN.  “I could take billions of particles of dead viruses and could still find the RNA. That doesn’t mean that there are infectious aerosols,” Denison said.