ebrahim raisi funeral – Artifex.News https://artifexnews.net Stay Connected. Stay Informed. Thu, 23 May 2024 11:04:03 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.5.5 https://artifexnews.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/cropped-Artifex-Round-32x32.png ebrahim raisi funeral – Artifex.News https://artifexnews.net 32 32 Iran President Ebrahim Raisi To Be Buried In Holy City Of Mashhad https://artifexnews.net/iran-president-ebrahim-raisi-to-be-buried-in-holy-city-of-mashhad-5728350/ Thu, 23 May 2024 11:04:03 +0000 https://artifexnews.net/iran-president-ebrahim-raisi-to-be-buried-in-holy-city-of-mashhad-5728350/ Read More “Iran President Ebrahim Raisi To Be Buried In Holy City Of Mashhad” »

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A funeral procession was held for President Raisi today morning in the city of Birjand.

Dubai:

Iran’s late President Ebrahim Raisi is set to be buried in the holy city of Mashhad on Thursday, four days after he was killed in a helicopter crash along with foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and six other people.

Raisi’s coffin was flown to Mashhad in northeast Iran after a funeral procession was held for him today morning in the eastern city of Birjand, where thousands paid their respects as his remains were driven through the streets in a motorcade.

A guard of honour stood to attention as the plane carrying Raisi’s coffin arrived in Mashhad, his hometown, where he will be laid to rest at the gold-domed Imam Reza shrine, the holiest Islamic site in Iran and revered by Shi’ite Muslims as the resting place of the 9th century Imam Ali al-Reza.

Raisi, 63, was widely seen as a candidate to succeed 85-year-old Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who wields ultimate power in Iran. Mohammad Mokhber, who had been first vice president, is serving as interim president until a June election.

Eight passengers and crew were killed when the helicopter crashed in mountainous terrain near the Azerbaijan border.

A ceremony was held to commemorate Amirabdollahian at the foreign ministry in Tehran, where acting Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani described him as a martyr who had “guaranteed the revolutionary nature of the foreign ministry”.

Amirabdollahian will be buried south of Tehran in the Shah Abdolazim shrine, a mausoleum where notable Iranian politicians and artists are buried.

Iran proclaimed five days of mourning for Raisi, who enacted the hardline policies of his mentor Khamenei aimed at entrenching clerical power, cracking down on opponents, and adopting a tough line on foreign policy issues such as nuclear talks with Washington to revive Iran’s 2015 nuclear pact.

The presidential election has been scheduled for June 28.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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Iran prepares to bury late President, Foreign Minister and others killed in helicopter crash https://artifexnews.net/article68206675-ece/ Thu, 23 May 2024 06:44:57 +0000 https://artifexnews.net/article68206675-ece/ Read More “Iran prepares to bury late President, Foreign Minister and others killed in helicopter crash” »

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Mourners attend the funeral of Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi, in Tehran on May 22, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Iran on May 23 prepared to inter its late President at the holiest site for Shiite Muslims in the Islamic Republic, a final sign of respect for a protege of Iran’s supreme leader killed in a helicopter crash earlier this week.

President Ebrahim Raisi’s burial at the Imam Reza Shrine in Mashhad caps days of processionals through much of Iran, seeking to bolster the country’s theocracy after the crash killing him, the country’s Foreign Minister and six others.

However, the services have not drawn the same crowd as those who gathered for services for Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani in 2020, slain by a U.S. drone strike in Baghdad.

It’s a potential sign of the public’s feelings about Raisi’s presidency that saw the government harshly crack down on all dissent during protests over the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini, detained for allegedly not wearing her mandatory headscarf to authorities’ liking.

That crackdown, as well as Iran’s struggling economy, have gone unmentioned in the hours of coverage provided by state television and in newspapers. Also never discussed was Raisi’s involvement in the mass execution of an estimated 5,000 dissidents at the end of the Iran-Iraq war.

Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar pays tributes to Iran’s late President Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi, late Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and other Iranian officials who died in chopper crash, in Tehran on May 22, 2024.

Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar pays tributes to Iran’s late President Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi, late Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and other Iranian officials who died in chopper crash, in Tehran on May 22, 2024.
| Photo Credit:
PTI

Prosecutors have warned people against showing any public signs of celebrating Raisi’s death and a heavy security force presence has been seen in Tehran since the crash.

On May 23 morning, thousands in black gathered along a main boulevard in the city of Birjand, Raisi’s hometown in Iran’s South Khorasan Province along the Afghan border. A semitruck bore his casket down the street, with mourners reaching out to touch it and tossing scarves and other items to be placed against it for a blessing. A sign on the truck read, “This is the shrine.” Later, Raisi will be buried at the Imam Reza Shrine, where Shiite Islam’s 8th imam is buried. The region, for long, has been associated with Shiite pilgrimmage. A hadith attributed to Islam’s Prophet Mohammad saysm anyone with sorrow or sin will be relieved through by visiting there.

In 2016, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei appointed Raisi to run the Imam Reza charity foundation, which manages a vast conglomerate of businesses and endowments in Iran, as well as oversees the shrine. It is one of many bonyads, or charitable foundations, fuelled by donations or assets seized after Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.

These foundations offer no public accounting of their spending and answer only to Iran’s supreme leader. The Imam Reza charity, known as “Astan-e Quds-e Razavi” in Farsi, is believed to be one of the biggest in the country. Analysts estimate its worth at tens of billions of dollars as it owns almost half the land in Mashhad, Iran’s second-largest city.

Raisi will be the first top politician in the country to be buried at the shrine, which represents a major honor for the cleric.

The death of Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and six others in the crash on Sunday comes at a politically sensitive moment for Iran, both at home and abroad.

Raisi, who was 63, had been discussed as a possible successor to Iran’s supreme leader, the 85-year-old Khamenei. None of Iran’s living past presidents — other than Khamenei, who was President from 1981 until 1989 — could be seen in state television footage of Wednesday’s prayers. The authorities gave no explanation for their apparent absence.

Iran has set June 28 as the next presidential election. For now, there’s no clear favorite for the position among Iran’s political elite — particularly no one who is a Shiite cleric, like Raisi. Acting President Mohammad Mokhber, a relatively unknown first vice president until Sunday’s crash, has stepped into his role and even attended a meeting between Khamenei and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh on May 22.



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Vice President Jagdeep Dhankar To Visit Tehran To Attend Iran President Ebrahim Raisi’s Funeral Tomorrow https://artifexnews.net/vice-president-jagdeep-dhankar-to-visit-tehran-to-attend-iran-president-ebrahim-raisis-funeral-tomorrow-5715761/ Tue, 21 May 2024 18:11:57 +0000 https://artifexnews.net/vice-president-jagdeep-dhankar-to-visit-tehran-to-attend-iran-president-ebrahim-raisis-funeral-tomorrow-5715761/ Read More “Vice President Jagdeep Dhankar To Visit Tehran To Attend Iran President Ebrahim Raisi’s Funeral Tomorrow” »

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On Thursday, people will pay homage to Raisi and others in Mashhad city.

The funeral of Iran President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and others killed in helicopter crash will be held tomorrow at Tehran University, in the capital city of Iran. 

India’s vice president Jagdeep Dhankar will fly to Iran to attend the funeral of Raisi and others in the capital city. At Tehran university, the funeral will be led by Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei following which the procession will go to Maidan-e-Azadi (Azadi Square). 

The people of Tehran will pay tribute to Raisi, Hossein Amir Abdollahian and others. Ten and thousand of mourners have alreadt gathered, waving Iranian flags and portraits of the late president. 

The mourners marched in the northwestern city of Tabriz, where Raisi’s helicopter had been headed when it crashed.

Ashraf Zaidi, an expert on Iran affairs, said that their bodies will be kept in The Sa’dabad Complex – the presidential complex – from 3 pm to 6 pm, where guests from other countries will pay their tributes.

On Thursday, people will pay homage to Raisi and others in Mashhad city. Later, in the evening, Raisi along with others will be laid to rest at the Shrine of Imam-e-Raza.

Raisi and Amir Abdollahian were among nine people who died after their helicopter crashed in Iran’s mountainous northwest area while they were returning from the Azerbaijan border after flagging off joint projects in the region.

After the wreckage was found by rescuers, their bodies were first brought to Tabriz city, where thousands of people paid tribute. The bodies were later brought to the Holy Shrine of Masooma e Qum in Qum city for homage.

Many countries including India mourned Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi with several nations declaring state mourning. India also observed state mourning today, while national flag was flown at half mast on all government buildings including the Rashtrapati Bhavan. 

Foreign minister S Jaishankar visited the Iranian embassy in Delhi  today to convey “deepest condolences on the tragic passing away of President Ebrahim Raisi and my colleague, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.”

While one day state mourning was observed in Pakistan and Iraq, three days of national mourning was also declared in Syria and Lebanon, and five days in Iran.

Leaders who paid tributes 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Russian President Vladimir Putin, UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, China’s President Xi Jinping, King Salman and Mohammed bin Salman from Saudi Arabia, President Syria Bashar al-Assad including Iraq, Lebnon, Jordan, Egypt, European Union, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Qatar, Sudan, Turkey, Venezuela, Yemen, UN paid their tributes.

Religious leaders also paid tributes 

Pope Francis, Bishop of Rome, the Pope and head of the Catholic Church, also sent a telegram message expressing his condolences on the deaths of Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi, the country’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and all those killed in the May 19 helicopter crash. 

Senior Shia cleric in Iraq, Ayatollah Ali Sistani, also expressed “deep condolences” over the death of Iran president and others killed in the crash.

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What comes next for Iran after Raisi’s death? https://artifexnews.net/article68200317-ece/ Tue, 21 May 2024 16:59:47 +0000 https://artifexnews.net/article68200317-ece/ Read More “What comes next for Iran after Raisi’s death?” »

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Cars drive past a billboard bearing a portrait of Iran’s late president Ebrahim Raisi, centre, his Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, second from left, and other members of his entrourage in central Tehran on May 21, 2024, as mourners in the northestern city of Tabriz attended a funeral procession for the President and seven others who were killed with him in a helicopter accident two days ago.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Being Iran’s President is not easy. The highest elected office in the country is not the most powerful one. The President is answerable to the Supreme Leader, who is appointed by a body of senior clerics. The President’s main responsibility is to run the day-to-day affairs of the country, especially its crisis-ridden, sanctions-hit economy. The President also has to run a delicate foreign policy in a hostile region where its only national state ally is Syria, which itself has been battered by years of civil war. The President has to do a lot of balancing acts at home as well, keeping the link between popular legitimacy and clerical rule alive, while also working with the security apparatus, including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), to protect Tehran’s key geopolitical interests.


Also read: A brief look at the life of Ebrahim Raisi

Ebrahim Raisi, the 63-year-old hardline cleric who became Iran’s eighth President in August 2021, was doing just that, until May 19, 2024, when he was killed in a helicopter crash. In many ways, Iran’s clerical establishment found a near-perfect leader in Raisi. He was an ideologically committed loyal servant of Iran’s theocratic system. A cleric and a close confidant of the Supreme Leader, Raisi was seen as a potential successor to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. And his death comes as a massive shock for the Islamic Republic.

Immediate priority

Iran faces three broad challenges in the wake of Raisi’s death. Tehran’s immediate priority is to put in place an orderly transition so that the “nation would not be disrupted at all”, as Mr. Khamenei has said. According to the Constitution, if the President is incapacitated, the First Vice-President would assume interim duties and fresh elections should be held in 50 days. Mr. Khamenei has already approved First Vice-President Mohammad Mokhber as acting head of the executive branch of the state. Now, it’s the responsibility of Mr. Mokhber, parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf and Chief Justice Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei to hold elections within the timeframe. Authorities have already announced that elections would be held on June 28.

When Raisi became President, all branches of Iran’s government — executive, judiciary and legislature — came under the control of conservatives. In the parliamentary elections held earlier this year, conservatives retained their dominance. But what worries the establishment is the dwindling turnout. For years, Iran’s clerical leadership would use high voter turnout as a marker of legitimacy for the country’s system. If the voter turnout was 85% in the 2009 presidential elections, it fell to 48% in 2021 when Raisi was elected. When the country is preparing to hold a snap election, the establishment would like to see not just the election of another conservative as President but also a high turnout.

Larger transition

Secondly, Raisi’s abrupt death did disrupt Iran’s bigger transition plans as well. Mr. Khamenei, the most powerful man in Iran, is 85 years old and ailing. He became the Supreme Leader in 1989 when Ayatollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic died. Many Iran watchers saw Raisi as an ideal candidate to succeed Mr. Khamenei. Raisi was relatively young, ideologically committed, had the blessings of the establishment and successfully negotiated between the different branches of the state and made his standing more powerful ever since his election. But now, Iran has to start from scratch to find Mr. Khamenei’s successor. Different names are being added to the list, including Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of the Supreme Leader, and Alireza Arafi, an influential white-turbaned cleric who heads Friday prayers at the Qom Shia seminary.

Regional dynamics

Lastly, Raisi’s death comes at a time when regional tensions are at an all-time high. After the Israel-Hamas war began on October 7, 2023, regional focus shifted to Iran’s support of non-state actors in West Asia, including Hamas, Hezbollah and Houthis. Last month, Iran launched an unprecedented drone and missile attack on Israel, after its consulate in Damascus was struck and officers killed. Hezbollah, which is directly backed by Iran, is fighting a slow-burning war with Israel on its northern border. Houthis, the Yemeni militia backed by Iran, is carrying out attacks targeting vessels in the Red Sea, “in solidarity with Palestinians”.

In recent months, Iran has flexed its muscles both through its proxies and directly in the region. A change in presidency is unlikely to alter Iran’s overall security doctrine, which has been laid out by the clerical and military establishment. But for the smooth implementation of this multi-layered security strategy, which involves both state and non-state actors, in a hostile region, Iran needs a cohesive national leadership. The challenge before the Ayatollahs is to stay the political course irrespective of the disruptions.



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Vice President To Visit Tehran For Iranian President Funeral: Centre https://artifexnews.net/vice-president-to-visit-tehran-for-iranian-president-funeral-centre-5714493rand29/ Tue, 21 May 2024 14:49:31 +0000 https://artifexnews.net/vice-president-to-visit-tehran-for-iranian-president-funeral-centre-5714493rand29/ Read More “Vice President To Visit Tehran For Iranian President Funeral: Centre” »

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A one-day state mourning is being observed across India on Tuesday as a mark of respect for Mr Raisi.

New Delhi:

Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar will fly to Iran on Wednesday to attend an official ceremony to pay condolences on the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in a helicopter crash, the Ministry of External Affairs said.

A one-day state mourning is being observed across India on Tuesday as a mark of respect for Mr Raisi.

“Vice-President of India Jagdeep Dhankhar will pay a visit to the Islamic Republic of Iran on May 22 to attend official ceremony to pay condolences on the tragic demise of President Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and other Iranian officials in an unfortunate helicopter crash on May 19,” an MEA statement said on Tuesday.

President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have conveyed their condolences on the demise of Raisi. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar visited the embassy of Iran in Delhi on Tuesday to convey India’s condolences on the loss.

The Iranian president, the country’s foreign minister and several other officials were found dead on Monday, hours after their helicopter crashed in a foggy, mountainous region in the northwestern part of the country, Iran state media reported.

Mr Raisi, 63, and his entourage were heading to the city of Tabriz after returning from a visit to a locality on the Azerbaijan-Iran border on Sunday.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)



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