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Saudi bin Laden construction group fined for 2015 Hajj crane collapse

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Saudi bin Laden construction group fined for 2015 Hajj crane collapse

A criminal court has fined the Saudi bin Laden group $5.3m (£4.4m) and jailed seven people for a crane collapse ahead of the 2015 Hajj pilgrimage.

More than 100 people were killed in the incident, according to a major Saudi daily.

Blown by strong winds, the 1,350-tonne crane toppled over the Great Mosque, Islam’s holiest site, the cube-shaped Kaaba, crushing concrete slabs on worshipers below.

Less than two weeks after the crane collapsed on September 11, more than 2,400 people were killed in a stampede and crush of pilgrims.

The Okaz daily reported on Tuesday that the company had been fined 20 million Saudi riyals, or about £4.3 million, for negligence and security breaches.

Three defendants were jailed for six months and fined 30,000 riyals (£6,660), while four others were jailed for three months and fined 15,000 riyals (£3,330).

Okaz did not report their names or nationalities.

The court ruled that the company did not need to pay blood money to the families of the victims.

The Saudi bin Laden group did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

For decades, the bin Laden family had close ties to Saudi Arabia’s ruling family and ran major construction projects.

The late Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was the son of a traitor who was disowned by his family in the 1990s.

The verdict comes as Saudi Arabia prepares to host its first pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina after pandemic restrictions are lifted.

Millions of Muslims are expected to make the Hajj in late June, one of the largest gatherings on Earth in a normal year.

The double disaster of 2015 embarrassed the Saudi royal family.

At the time, King Salman blamed the construction giant in part for the crane’s collapse, saying its arms should not be raised when not in use.

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