Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi was buried at the holiest Shiite shrine in the nation on Thursday, days after a fatal helicopter crash killed him along with the country’s foreign minister and six others.
Mourners lowered Raisi into a tomb at the Imam Reza Shrine in Mashhad, where Shiite Islam’s eighth imam is buried and millions of pilgrims visit each year.
Hundreds of thousands of people dressed in black crowded around the shrine under its iconic golden dome, wailing and beating their chests in sorrow in a sign of mourning common in Shiite ceremonies.
The days of services have failed to attract the same large crowds seen during the services for Revolutionary Guard General Qassem Soleimani in 2020, who was killed by a US drone strike in Baghdad.
In Tehran alone, approximately 1 million people flooded the streets to mourn Soleimani -an attendance not observed at the recent commemorations. However, the ceremonies have consistently evoked the memory of the general and prominently featured his image, likely to spark an association between the men.
It’s a potential sign of the public’s feelings about Raisi’s presidency during which the government harshly cracked down on all dissent during protests over the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini. The 22-year-old was detained for allegedly not wearing her mandatory headscarf to authorities’ liking.
The government's crackdown on dissent, along with Iran's economic challenges, was not mentioned in the hours of coverage provided by state television and newspapers. Also, there has been no discussion of Raisi's involvement in the mass execution of around 5,000 dissidents at the end of the Iran-Iraq war.
No information was provided about the cause of the crash of the aging Bell helicopter carrying him and others through a foggy, mountainous region.
Celebrating the president's death prohibited
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.
Raisi, who was 63, had been discussed as a possible successor to Iran’s supreme leader, the 85-year-old Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Iran has set June 28 as the next presidential election. Currently, there is no apparent frontrunner for the position among Iran's political elite.
Acting President Mohammad Mokhber, a relatively unknown first vice president until Sunday’s crash, has stepped into Raisi's role and even attended a meeting between Khamenei and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh on Wednesday.
Raisi is the first top politician in the country to be buried at the shrine, which represents a major honour for the cleric. His father-in-law serves as the city's Friday prayer leader.
