Image source, Getty Images
- author, matt murphy
- role, BBC news
- Reported by London
Large crowds have begun to gather in Iran’s capital Tehran for the funeral of late President Ebrahim Raisi.
Raisi was killed in a helicopter crash near the border with Azerbaijan on Sunday, along with Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdullahian and six others.
The ceremony will begin with Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei leading prayers in the capital, after which the coffin, draped in the Iranian flag, will be carried to the city’s main Azadi Square.
Authorities have warned against demonstrations against funeral processions and offensive posts online.
Large banners hailing Raisi as a “martyr of service” were hung across the capital, as well as banners saying “farewell to a servant of the less fortunate.”
Some residents of Tehran received text messages urging them to attend Wednesday’s ceremony, AFP news agency reported.
Footage carried by state television showed mourners filling the streets, many holding photos of Raisi and holding Iranian flags.
Several foreign dignitaries are expected to attend the proceedings.
The men’s funerals began on Tuesday at Shiite cleric centers in Tabriz city and Qom, with thousands of black-clad mourners attending the ceremony.
After a procession in the capital on Wednesday, Raisi’s remains will be transferred to the southern Khorasan province and then to his hometown of Mashhad in the northeast.
He will be buried on Thursday night after a funeral service held at the city’s Imam Reza Mausoleum.
Five days of national mourning have been declared in the country.
Raisi was a highly divisive figure in Iran: during his time as prosecutor in the 1980s he oversaw the execution of numerous opposition activists.
It then launched a brutal crackdown on demonstrators enraged by Mahsa Amini’s murder. The 22-year-old woman died three days after being detained by the capital’s public order police on suspicion of violating Iran’s strict rules requiring women to cover their hair with a hijab (scarf).
But his ultra-conservative views won support from regime supporters, and Raisi was seen as a potential successor to Khamenei.
