NAJAF/KARBALA: The slain supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, will be laid to rest at the shrine of Imam Ali Raza, the eighth Shia imam, in Mashhad, on Thursday (today) after millions of mourners attended his funeral in Iraqi cities of Najaf and Karbala.
Huge crowds thronged the streets of Najaf and packed the courtyards of its majestic shrine of Imam Ali where the coffin was brought from Iran before being flown to Karbala. Authorities declared Wednesday a public holiday in Iraq.
Six days of public funeral ceremonies, including a dedicated day in neighbouring Iraq, were planned for Ayatollah Khamenei who along with family members was assassinated in a joint US-Israel strike on Iran on Feb 28.
In Najaf, despite the scorching heat, millions of people filled the streets since early morning, with some people pushing close hoping to touch Ayatollah Khamenei’s coffin as it rode slowly in the back of a truck en route to Imam Ali’s shrine.
Murtada al-Maliki, 27, who travelled overnight from southern Iraq to attend the funeral in Najaf, said the late Iran leader “stood with us against Daesh”, another name for the militant Islamic State group, and kept Israel in check.
