Saudis Beat Iranians, Tehran Says
Heavily armed Saudi Arabian security agents broke up an Iranian prayer meeting in the holy city of Medina on Thursday night, beating and arresting a number of pilgrims, Tehran radio charged Friday.
The broadcast, monitored in Nicosia, gave no other details of the incident but said Iran’s chief official at the pilgrimage, Mehdi Karroubi, had been barred from the city.
The report reflected continued friction between Iran’s Shia Muslim pilgrims and the Sunni Muslim Saudi authorities since bloody clashes between Iranian demonstrators and Saudi police in Mecca late last month.
The bodies of 58 Iranian pilgrims killed in the violence were flown back from Saudi Arabia on Friday, bringing the number of repatriated bodies to about 230, the radio said.
Pilgrimage officials say 322 Iranians were killed. Saudi Arabia puts the death toll at 402 including 275 Iranians.
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