Seven years after the Al-Haram crane incident, the Supreme Court in Saudi Arabia ordered to “reconsider the case and overturn the previous rulings that acquitted 13 defendants, including the bin Laden group,” according to the newspaper. Okaz Saudi Arabia.
On September 11, 2015, a crane collapsed in the Grand Mosque in Mecca during the Hajj season due to strong winds and heavy rain, killing 110 people and injuring 209 others, including many foreigners, leaving “material damage” to the Grand Mosque in Mecca.
At the time, the Saudi authorities imposed severe penalties against the Saudi Bin Laden Group, which was in charge of developing and expanding the Grand Mosque in Mecca to accommodate the increasing numbers of pilgrims and Umrah pilgrims.
The penalties that were taken against the company at the time included preventing it from participating in any tenders for government projects, and in May 2016, the group announced that King Salman bin Abdulaziz had lifted the penalties, according to “AFP”.
After investigations that lasted eight months, the case was referred to the Criminal Court in Makkah, and accusations of negligence were brought to a number of the accused, before the court ruled that 13 defendants in the case, including the bin Laden group, were acquitted.
In 2021, the Saudi Court of Appeals approved the verdict of acquittal of all the defendants in the case of the Temple Mount Crane, according toSaudi media“.
According to Okaz, the previous acquittal ruling issued by the Criminal Chamber of the Court of Appeal a year ago was overturned, and it was decided to return the case again to a judicial circuit to rule on it again.
Retrial and new indictments
Sources confirmed to “Okaz” that the court held a session in the presence of 10 of the defendants, and the absence of 3 others who did not attend the session or their representatives, noting that “the court’s scrutiny with every failure to remove the crane and leave it for a period longer than the actual need in a site crowded with human lives.”
According to “Okaz”, the Saudi Public Prosecutor submitted a list in which he accused 13 individuals of negligence and negligence, which caused the crane to fall. The list indicated “failure to activate and follow safety regulations in operational work.”
The main contractor relied on its own internal safety standards and regulations, which are less than the minimum approved for safety, according to Okaz.
The indictment stated that some of the crane operators and installers and inspectors working on the site “lack competence”, accusing the main contractor of “lack of accrediting qualified workers and not providing adequate training for workers.”
The indictment asserted that the crane operator did not provide specific information about the wind speed at which the cranes should be turned off, noting that the crane operator and safety officials were not provided with a weather forecast or bulletin.
The list pointed out that “the months prior to the incident witnessed a number of accidents that occurred or almost occurred, and the matter passed without corrective measures taken on the ground or lessons learned,” according to what Okaz reported.
An independent case for a suspect who left Saudi Arabia
The list revealed that no accusations were brought against individuals affiliated with entities, while an independent case was filed for one of the defendants who left Saudi Arabia, and he did not return again, according to “Okaz”.
According to dozens of reports, interrogations, investigations and witnesses, the Public Prosecutor charged the “negligence and negligence” of the bin Laden group, pointing out that “safety officials and project managers did not take the necessary precautions and caution in following the weather conditions.”
By presenting the public prosecutor’s case to the defendants, they requested to see the cassation decision issued by the Supreme Court, to study it, and the court gave the defendants an opportunity to submit answer notes to the charges “separately”.