Part of memoirs of Haojjatol Eslam Sheikh Esmaeel Dayani

Saudi attack on Iranian pilgrims

Selected by: Fa'ezeh Sassani Khah
Translated by: M.B. Khoshnevisan

2024-6-25

My most memorable trip happened in 1366 solar hijri (1987) during which I accidentally was the head of the caravan. On that trip, the brutal massacre of the Iranian haj pilgrims by the Saudi agents happened. That horrible tragedy occurred on Friday which was later known as "Black Friday"… Almost everybody had prepared to take part in the rally on the day of the "Disavowal of Polytheists". About 40 people in our caravan were women and nearly 70 were men, most of whom had already announced their readiness to participate in the rally of the Disavowal of Polytheists. Our convoy was among the first protesting groups that entered the scene. Even Ayatollah "Arefi'', who was over 85 years old,[1] accompanied us, even though he had just returned from the shrine. He had considered the declaration of disavowal as Vajeb or an obligation. What attracted attention from the very beginning was the presence of armed agents who guarded both sides of the street in the form of a column on Masjid al-Haram Street, and with their presence, terror dominated the atmosphere. Around the "Jinn Mosque"[2] military vehicles had been parked all over the street and armed soldiers had been sitting in them, in a way that I had never seen such a scene before. 

Although the conditions seemed unusual, we upon the suggestion of Hojjatol Eslam "Seyed Mohammad Hassan Salehi", went a little further and by crossing over the "Hozoor Bridge" we reached the Be'theh Imam Square[3] where the rally was going to be held. First, Mr. Karroubi gave a speech in Arabic, and then one of the organizers of the rally announced: "Brothers! Let's go to Masjid al-Haram [the Great Mosque of Mecca]to pray." When the crowd flowed towards the mosque, Mr. Salehi and I moved a little slower so that the street would be a little quieter. In the crowded population, I saw someone handing out Arabic, English, and Urdu pamphlets. A few minutes later, I saw one of the police officers come forward and take one of the pamphlets. Immediately, another person known as the Shaal Ghermez [red shawl] confronted the policeman and angrily said to him, "Why did you take the pamphlet?" Mr. Salehi, who had been surprised by seeing this scene, said to Shaal Ghermez, "Why are you stopping?" He replied: "You assume I am a communist and not a Muslim!" And then he muttered. We were arguing when I suddenly saw that the flag on top of the telecommunication building was set on fire. Having seen this situation, I said to Mr. Salehi: "Hurry up, we have to leave here as soon as possible. It is not advisable to stay here anymore, maybe other things will happen." We were moving when I heard that a person from our convoy was injured among the crowd, at first I thought that only that person was injured, but later they informed me that many people were injured. Among other heinous and disturbing scenes, there was a scene where the Iranian pilgrims were brutally beaten with whips and batons by the Saudi soldiers in the area of ​​the conflict. Seeing their alienation and oppressed people made people angry. Therefore, while I was enraged and surprised and angry, one of the Saudi soldiers was coming towards me angrily. As soon as I saw him, the feeling of revenge filled my being. I unconsciously jumped up in the air and kicked him hard in the chest, then jumped back and ran away. The police also attacked me with a baton and hit me hard on the shoulder, but I escaped from his grip.

Finally, with a lot of effort, we reached the "Mo'avedeh Mosque". The people rushed to the mosque from all four sides and the Saudi soldiers brutally smashed the windows and doors of the mosque with batons. They did not care for the mosque and the visitors of God's house! Moments later, the Maghrib or evening prayer was performed in the mosque, and at the end, someone announced with a loudspeaker that the Iranians should not leave the mosque because the conditions were not favorable at the moment. I waited for a while, but when I came out of the mosque, I encountered another sad and heartbreaking scene. On one side, many soldiers and officers had been lined up, and on the other side, many bodies were lying on the side of the street. Among other things, I saw the bodies of two women whose hair was hanging from the edge of the curb and white cloths were stretched over their bodies! That night, a very bad memory was recorded in my mind. While I was hurrying back to the Be'theh Imam, I was looking for the people of my caravan among the dead bodies. To reach Masjid al-Haram, I had to cross Jahun Bridge, but there was a crowd of soldiers and they were shooting at the pilgrims. Therefore, I had to reach my destination through the "Shisheh neighborhood". This route led to Mena and then to Masjid al-Haram, but it was very long, it was about four to five kilometers long, and I had to go around Mena all the way to reach Masjid al-Haram. There was no other choice and I had to reach my destination as soon as possible so that I would be informed of the conditions of my fellow caravans.

For this reason, I walked the whole way, but I made a mistake and returned to "Share' Mosque". I interpreted the mistake as wisdom and immediately put water on my hands and face, performed ablution, and prayed. Then I started walking and finally arrived at the caravan's guesthouse at 4:30 am. The guesthouse where our caravan was staying had two floors, on the west side of the building lived the owner of the guesthouse and his family.

It was a strange night! Even though I was exhausted and unable to speak, as soon as I arrived, I went to the caravans and greeted each person. Fortunately, no one had been killed, but several people had been injured. One of the pilgrims from Sarbisheh, who was a teacher, had his head broken by the batons of the police and was bandaged in the hospital. Taqi Akbarpour and Mohsen Kani were arrested by the police and transferred to the Saudi military base. According to the reports of friends, Akbarpour had escaped from the police at the very beginning. But Mohsen Kani was apparently still in prison and the attendees asked me to do something to free Mohsen.

I first explained the matter to the guesthouse owner, with the intention that he was a genuine Arab, and maybe he would guide me through his familiarity with the situation or give me some relief and heal our sorrow, but suddenly I saw his face turn red! He seemed calm and composed, but that night, when he heard my words, he got angry and said: "Destructive Iranians, the Iranians tore the stomach with a knife, Iranians are a destructive group!" At first, I was surprised by his answer, but then I realized that his brother works in the hospital and he was informed about the killing and wounding of the Arabs. Until then, I didn't know the owner of the guesthouse properly, so I trusted him and asked him to guide me, but after I did more research, I found out that he was one of the high-ranking Saudi officers!

I was surprised by this case because until then we had seen him as a friendly, open, and hospitable person. In the guest house, he usually spread a carpet on the beds in the middle of the yard, poured tea with his hand for the guests, especially for the guys of our caravan, and welcomed them sincerely! Even his wife and daughters, while wearing veils, sat and talked very casually and intimately with the women of the caravan, and they socialized a lot with Iranians, but during that inhumane crime, his existential malice was revealed!

Later, with repeated follow-ups, it turned out that three of our fellow caravans were martyred, a woman and two men named; Taymouri and Seyyed Hossein Andalib". Two of Andalib's brothers were our companions on that trip, Seyed Hossein who was martyred, and Seyed Saeed who was injured and his leg was broken.

Three days later, on the ninth day of Dhu’l-Hijjah, worse disasters occurred. Clashes became more intense and the death toll rose sharply. Strangely, the owner of the guest house (the same Saudi officer) took his family out of the house on Wednesday two days before the clashes, and his measure indicated that he was aware of the Saudis' sinister plan behind the scenes! A few days after the tragedies, according to different news, the facts of the incident became clearer. According to different news, it turned out that the conflict started by the Arabs, in such a way that on the sixth day of Dhu’l-Hijjah, they threw a lot of moonshine from the roof at the pilgrims of the House of God, and this caused the reaction of the Iranian pilgrims. Apparently, in those conflicts, a large number of pilgrims from Isfahan were killed in the conflict with the Saudi soldiers. When the pilgrims saw the situation like this, they attacked the police with knives and kitchen knives and set a car on fire!

It was after that that the reports about the brutal killing of the pilgrims of God's house by the brutal agents of Al-e Saud[4] were spread and it took away the peace from the rest of the fellow travelers.

In such a situation, the news of Mohsen Kani's release from the clutches of the Saudi terrorists arrived, and with this news, the pain of our heartbroken caravan members was somewhat reduced. Also, with repeated follow-ups of the companions from the airline offices and relevant centers, it was found that the name of Mohsen Kani was on the list of the first group of Iranian pilgrims who had left for Tehran. It was God's work that he was able to save himself from the clutches of Saudi agents.

The Imam Be’theh in holy Mecca and Medina was the center and safe place for pilgrims and organized valuable religious and cultural programs during the journey in Mecca and Medina I usually tried to have a schedule of sermons and speeches or to express religious issues and supplications for different groups during the trip. That's why I recited the Arafa supplication that same year, even when we were all grieving or hurt, and the Iranian pilgrims were caught in difficult calamities?!

Source: Asadollahi Gazar, Sejanian, Maryam, Sheikh Esmaeel, Biography of Hojjatol Eslam Sheikh Esmaeel Dayani, Sooreh Mehr Publications, First edition, 1400 (2021), P. 267.