More than 1000 victims

Illegal pilgrimages at Hajj: lawsuits threatened

In Mecca in Saudi Arabia, temperatures are currently over 50 degrees in some places.

(Bild: AFP)

Following the deaths of hundreds of worshippers during the Islamic pilgrimage Hajj in Saudi Arabia, Egypt is taking action against tourism companies. Prime Minister Mustafa Madbuli ordered 16 companies to have their licenses revoked for arranging illegal pilgrimages. Their managers have also been handed over to the public prosecutor's office.

More than 1000 people did not survive the Hajj, which ended this week in the scorching heat of Saudi Arabia. 658 of the deceased were from Egypt, 630 of whom were not officially registered.

Many without an official pilgrimage license
The pilgrimage should be undertaken at least once in a lifetime by every healthy Muslim who can afford it. Many believers take part in the Hajj without the official pilgrimage license for financial reasons and were therefore not registered by the Saudi Arabian authorities.

In the run-up to the Hajj, the Saudi Arabian authorities said they had expelled hundreds of thousands of unregistered pilgrims from Mecca - many of whom apparently still took part in the Hajj, which began on June 14.

Temperatures of up to 51 degrees
These unregistered pilgrims were particularly exposed to temperatures of over 51 degrees in some cases. Without a license, they had no access to cooled rooms that had been set up by the authorities for the 1.8 million registered pilgrims to recover from the hours of walking and praying in the open air.

In Tunisia, the minister of religion was dismissed on Friday following the deaths of 49 Tunisian pilgrims.