By Deutsche Welle
May 23, 2024, 1:52 PM EDT
Tens of thousands of people gathered this Thursday (05/23/2024) in the streets of Mashhad, in northwest Iran, to pay tribute to president Ebrahim Raisi before his burial in his hometown, five days after he was found dead following a helicopter crash.
The ceremony will end three days of funerals that brought together crowds of people, in line with the tradition of the great events that have occurred in Iran since the Islamic revolution of 1979.
In power since 2021, Raisi died at the age of 63 when the helicopter crashed which took him to the city of Tabriz, in the northwest, after inaugurating with his Azerbaijani counterpart, Ilham Aliyev, a dam on the border between the two countries.
The accident caused the death of the eight occupants of the aircraft, including Iran’s Foreign Minister, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, who was buried this Thursday south of Tehran.
Five days of national mourning
In Mashhad, men and women, most in chadors, and children paraded down the avenue leading to the mausoleum of Imam Reza, the country’s main Shiite shrine.
Most carried photos of the deceased and white flowers, widely used in funerals in Iran. Everyone accompanied the coffin, transported in a truck on which had been written: “I have come, oh king, give me refuge”; a motto in which the “king” referred to Imam Reza, the eighth Shiite imam.
After the death was publicly announced on Monday, Ayatollah Khamenei declared five days of national mourning and appointed Vice President Mohammad Mokhber as interim president until elections are held on June 28.
The position of Foreign Minister will be occupied by Ali Bagheri, until now deputy to the chancellor and main negotiator of the Iranian nuclear program.
At the moment, no one has publicly declared their intention to replace Raisi. The deadline to present candidatures officially opens on May 30 and the electoral campaign will start on June 12.
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