960406

NICOSIA: Iran's President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said on Saturday political rallies by Iranian pilgrims at the annual Moslem pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia would not be aimed at disturbing law and order in the kingdom.

"Holding the rally of 'disavowal of disbelievers' during the haj season is not meant to disturb the law and order of the Moslem country of Saudi Arabia, but is part of our fundamental and religiously inalienable principles," Rafsanjani said.

The official Iranian news agency IRNA said he was addressing members of the coordination council in charge of haj affairs, which this year falls at the end of April.

Iran refers to the political rally its pilgrims hold during the pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia to denounce the United States and Israel as "disavowal of disbelievers".

"The importance of 'disavowal of disbelievers' should be explained through proper means and methods to the world of Islam so as to better focus on the lofty political and spiritual goals of the haj," Rafsanjani said.

Saudi Arabia on Friday warned pilgrims for the second time in the past month that they risked severe punishment if they carried political material on the Moslem pilgrimage.

Iran on the same day urged its pilgrims to hold an anti-U.S. rally at the haj.

Saudi Arabia says haj is a purely religious affair and should not be politicised. It has banned all political activities during the pilgrimage in past years.

Iranian media said last year thousands of pilgrims defied the Saudi ban to chant slogans against the United States and Israel in two rallies outside the holy city of Mecca.

Iran boycotted the haj for three years after Saudi troops clashed in Mecca in 1987 with an Iranian-led rally, killing about 400 people, mainly Iranians.-Reuter