03.10.2017

Binladin staff acquitted

A court in Mecca, Saudi Arabia has acquitted all 13 people charged with negligence for the 2015 incident in which a larger crawler crane overturned onto the Grand Mosque, killing at least 109 people.

The Penal Court’s verdict declared that the company - Saudi Binladin - and those charged were not criminally responsible for the incident, and follows a defence by the company that it could not have predicted the severe thunderstorms and violent winds that brought the crane down onto the Mosque.

Saudi Arabia's attorney general has apparently filed an appeal against the decision.

In May the Penal Court was asked to retry the case after the charges had been dismissed by a lower court in January, on the basis that it did not have the powers to do so.
See original reports of the incident
See: Saudi Binladin reinstated


Bin laden