NAJAF: The funeral procession of Iran’s former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was assassinated in US-Israeli joint strikes earlier this year, has reached the shrine of the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali, in the Iraqi city of Najaf on Wednesday, as thousands of mourners gathered to pay their respects during the fifth day of a six-day state funeral.
According to Iran’s state broadcaster, the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), the body of Khamenei was carried by mourners into the shrine of Imam Ali, one of the holiest sites in Shia Islam.
A spokesperson for the funeral headquarters said the procession would continue to the holy city of Karbala before Khamenei’s body is returned to Iran for burial.
The body of the martyr will be buried in Mashhad in the early hours of tomorrow,” the spokesperson said, as quoted by IRIB. The funeral procession crossed into Iraq’s Najaf after Iranian officials, including President Masoud Pezeshkian and Khamenei’s eldest son, Mostafa Hosseini Khamenei, received the body at Najaf International Airport on Tuesday night. Iraq declared Wednesday a public holiday to mark the funeral ceremonies.
Khamenei’s casket, draped in the Iranian flag, was carried through the streets of Najaf to the shrine of Imam Ali, with thousands of mourners participating in the procession.
According to CNN, Iraqi and Iranian flags were seen alongside banners of Iran-backed Iraqi militias as crowds lined the route.
Following the ceremonies in Najaf, the procession is expected to move to Karbala, around 60 kilometres north, where mourners will gather at the shrines of Imam Hussein and his brother Abbas. The body will then be returned to Iran for a final funeral procession before being laid to rest in Mashhad on Thursday.(ANI)
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