“We are saddened that a number of pilgrims from our country were subjected to heat due to such a decision,” Hojjatoleslam Seyyed Abdolfattah Navvab, Head of Iranian Pilgrims in Mecca said at the meeting of Hajj Planning and Coordination Council chaired by him.

The senior cleric called on the head of the Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization to report the high level of dissatisfaction with the long distance that the Iranian pilgrims had to walk to return from Jamrat to the relevant authorities.

The head of the Iranian pilgrims’ caravans further noted, “The Iranian pilgrims’ tents were set up in the east of Mina which was at the farthest distance from Jamrat. Moreover, sending the pilgrims during the hottest time of the day for Jamrat was not a correct decision and they should have been dispatched before the weather temperature got too high.”

He called for proper measures to be taken to give more suitable and closer routes to pilgrims, to put cold water on the sides of pilgrims’ paths, and also to install canopies on the path.

“We, as representatives of Iranian pilgrims, object to the way the host country implemented and also dispatched the pilgrims during the hottest hours of the day. The farthest tents to go to Jamrat and increasing the return route by about one and a half kilometers was not the right thing to do,” he added.

Also in the meeting, Seyyed Abbas Hosseini, the head of the Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization, and Gholamreza Rezaei, the head of the 1402 (2023) Hajj Operation Headquarters, reported on the stages of sending pilgrims to Arafa, Mash’ar, and Mina and returning to Mecca and performing the rest of the Hajj rituals.

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