1987 Mecca incident

For years, Iranian pilgrims had tried to stage demonstrations which are known as "Distancing Ourselves from Mushrikīn" (برائت از مشرکين) in the Muslim holy city of Mecca during the hajj.[16] "Anti shah, anti-Israel and anti-American propaganda during the Hajj" by devotees of Khomeini had been happening since about 1971.[17] These demonstrations had their origins in 1971, when Ruhollah Khomeini instructed his Shiite followers to distribute political messages when performing their pilgrimage. Even though a few Iranians were arrested for this act, the Saudi officials were generally apathetic, as they did not view these political messages to be a threat to the Saudi royalty.[18] After the revolution, following the principles elaborated by Khomeini, they appealed directly to the Muslim pilgrims of other lands gradually heightening political activity in each the pilgrimage.[8] Iran claimed that "the Hajj and the Holy places should be placed under international oversight as opposed to being managed by the Saudis alone". The Saudi government reacted to these disturbances with increasing concern because "the Hajj is an important legitimizing factor for the Saudi ruling family".[17]

The first large clash between Shia pilgrims and Saudi security forces occurred in 1981.[17] In 1981, this was escalated to chanting political slogans in the Masjid al-Haram and the Prophet's Mosque, two of the holiest sites in Islam, resulting in violent clashes with Saudi security and one death.[5][19] In the same year, King Khalid of Saudi Arabia wrote a letter to Saddam Hussein saying "crush these stupid Iranians" as Saddam continued with the invasion of Iranian territory.[20]

In 1982, Khomeini appointed Hojatoleslam Mohammad Mousavi Khoeiniha as the supervisor and personal representative of Ayatollah Khomeini. Khoiniha was the "mentor" of the students who had seized the United States Embassy in the Iran hostage crisis. During the hajj that year, Saudi police clashed with demonstrators who Khoiniha addressed in both Medina and Mecca. In Mecca he was arrested, and after giving a speech in Medina following the pilgrimage he was declared an “instigator” and expelled from Saudi Arabia.[8][21]

During the next few years, both sides tried to calm the situation: Khomeini urged his devotees to maintain peace and order, not to distribute printed political material, and not to criticize Muslim governments. In return, Saudi officials changed their earlier policy and allowed two separate demonstrations to occur: One in Mecca, and the other in Medina.[22] By 1986, the situation was calm enough for Saudi officials to re-open the al-Baqi' cemetery for Shiite pilgrims, and in response, Khomeini's representative formally thanked the Saudi King for the gesture.[23][24] However, in the same year, Iranian radical Mehdi Hashemi was accused of smuggling explosives on an airplane headed for Saudi Arabia, renewing Saudi fears.[25][26]

Internationally, U.S. naval forces were being introduced into the Persian Gulf during this time in response to the Iran-Iraq War and heightening political tensions.[8]

According to the speech early in July 1987, Mohammad Mousavi Khoeiniha said that "a mere march or demonstration by Iranians will not suffice". He demanded that the Saudi regime allow Iranian pilgrims to enter the Great Mosque in Mecca at the end of their demonstration,[8] without the presence of security guards.[27] Then a representative of Khomeini would explain Iran’s case regarding the Iran Iraq war and an Iranian pilgrimage representative would conduct a referendum among all the pilgrims over the decision of the emir of Kuwait to invite foreign escorts for Kuwaiti tankers.[8] “All we ask is that the Saudi government not oppose this, nor send its guards to the Great Mosque. Let us see what happens. We will try it for one year.”[28]

Even though Mehdi Karrubi, who was Khomeini's official pilgrimage representative that year, tried to assure Saudi officials that the demonstrations would occur in the usual manner and in the agreed routes, it did little to quell the Saudi fears.[29]

But Saudis and Iranians worked together to go over "the route of the planned demonstration".[8] As a result of dialogue and strict regulations which were imposed after it, it was agreed that "the demonstration would end half a kilometer before the great Mosque", but the decision "put the Saudi security forces on a high state of alert",[30] and Saudi authorities "remained deeply suspicious".[8] An unnamed Saudi authority quoted by Israeli scholar Martin Kramer criticized the planned demonstration, stating that while Saudi Arabia provided occasions "for the expression of Muslim opinion on various matters", even during the hajj, political demonstrations in the Great Mosque would constitute a religious innovation in Islam (Bid'ah), and “anyone who attempts to innovate in Islam will go to hell.”[8] Just before the Mecca demonstration, Saudis pressured the Iranian representative Karrubi to cancel the march, which he refused to do.[8]

Two days before the planned demonstration, Khomeini’s annual message to the pilgrims was published, which as in years past, "included the customary plea" to pilgrims that they 'avoid clashes, insults, and disputes,' and warned against those intent on disruption 'who might embark on spontaneous moves'.[8][31]

The Saudis reportedly used truncheons and electric prods and the Iranians reportedly used knives and clubs.[32] Saudi security personnel deny firing at the demonstrators,[33][10] Saudi officials insist that no shots were fired, and that all deaths were caused by the melee and stampede. In a Washington news conference, the Saudi ambassador Prince Bandar bin Sultan claimed that "not one bullet was fired", blaming the violence on the Iranian pilgrims who he accused of "brandishing knives, clubs and broken glass drawn from beneath their cloaks".[10]

Iranian officials maintain that the Saudis had fired on the protesters without provocation and that the demonstrations had been peaceful.[10] Robin Wright also reports that "many of the Iranian bodies, shown to American and European reporters immediately upon their return to Tehran, had bullet punctures."[11] Ami Ayalon, an Israeli politician, wrote that "most of the Iranian pilgrims apparently shot by Saudi security authorities during the demonstration".[34] Martin Kramer also writes that "according to American intelligence sources, the tide was finally turned by reinforcements from the National Guard, who fired tear gas shells into the crowd and then opened fire with pistols and automatic weapons".[35][8]

The rioting and the resulting stampede reportedly caused the death of 402 people (275 Iranians, 85 Saudis, including policemen, and 42 pilgrims from other countries) and 649 people were reportedly wounded (303 Iranians, 145 Saudis and 201 other nationals).[33] The Iranian news agency announced that "200 Iranians had been killed and more than 2,000 wounded".[3] Martin Kramer states that the Iranian authorities claimed that 400 Iranian pilgrims died, and that several thousand were injured.[8]

• Sivan, Emmanuel; Friedman, Menachem (29 August 1990). Religious Radicalism and Politics in the Middle East. SUNY Press.
• Commins, David (2009). The Wahhabi Mission and Saudi Arabia. I.B. Tauris.
• Kramer, Martin S. (30 September 1996), "Khomeini's Messengers in Mecca", Arab Awakening and Islamic Revival, Transaction Publishers, ISBN 978-1560002727
• Kramer, Martin Seth (2011). "The Three-Year Boycott". Arab Awakening and Islamic Revival: The Politics of Ideas in the Middle East. Transaction Publishers. ISBN 978-1412817394.