Tens of thousands of people take part in funeral ceremonies before Raisi’s burial in Mashhad

May 23. (EUROPA PRESS) –

Tens of thousands of people participated this Thursday in the funeral ceremonies in the Iranian city of Mashhad (northeast) in honor of the country’s president, Ebrahim Raisi, who will be buried during the day in the city after dying on Sunday in a helicopter accident along with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hosein Amirabdolahian, and the rest of the occupants of the device.

The events in Mashhad took place after a ceremony in the city of Birjand, in South Khorasan, in which thousands of people also participated, within the framework of a series of events that started on Tuesday in Tabriz and that have followed one another since then in Qom and the capital, Tehran.

Raisi’s remains arrived during the day at the Hashemi Nejad International Airport in Mashhad, where some of those present gathered, after which a march began towards the mausoleum of Imam Reza, the most important in the country and where the deceased will be buried. president during this same day.

Several international delegations have moved to Mashhad, Raisi’s hometown, including those from Iraq, Afghanistan – with representation from the Taliban, despite the fact that there are no official relations between the two countries -, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, according to The Iranian news agency IRNA reported.

Likewise, Amirabdolahian was buried during the day in the mausoleum of Sah Abdolazim, located in the city of Rey, in the province of Tehran. Thousands of people have also participated in the events and have come to the place to participate in the funeral prayers, as reported by the Mehr agency.

Among the participants in the events in Rey, which arrive after the body of the deceased minister was transferred to Mashhad for the circumambulation of Imam Reza’s mausoleum, have been his predecessor in office, Mohamad Javad Zarif; and the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (IAEA), Mohamad Eslami.

The events in Mashhad in honor of Raisi mark the end of three days of ceremonies in various parts of the country in honor of the president and the rest of the occupants of the plane, which crashed in the province of East Azerbaijan (northwest) after an inauguration ceremony of a dam in the area.

During the day on Wednesday, the supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, led the prayers at the events in Tehran, after which thousands of people participated in a procession from the University of Tehran to Azadi Square, after a ceremony late on Tuesday at the Imam Khomeini mosque to pay tribute to Raisi and the rest of those who died in the accident,

On the other hand, the governor of East Azerbaijan, Malek Rahmati, and the leader of the Friday prayers in Tabriz, Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Ale Hashem – also killed in the incident – are scheduled to be buried this Thursday in Maragheh and Tabriz, respectively.

The helicopter crashed on Sunday afternoon in a difficult-to-access area, an incident initially described as a “forced landing.” The search efforts, made difficult by the presence of fog and rain, had the support of several countries, including Turkey, which sent drones to locate the place where the remains of the device were located.