Death of Algerian pilgrims is destiny, says minister

Algerian religious affairs minister Bouabdellah Ghoulamallah denied that chronic diseases and old age were behind the death of Algerian pilgrims in the last season.

• “The number of deaths is very normal and did not exceed the national average. It is their destiny. They would have died in any other place,” he told reporters in the province of Bechar (west of Algiers).
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• He did not deny that chronic diseases would be a helping factor behind the death.
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• According to him, doctors involved in counterfeiting medical certificates of some ill pilgrims have not been identified yet. “The issue is of the health ministry’s competence,” he said.
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