Helicopter crash: Thousands mourn Iran’s Raisi in Tabriz procession

Iranians have gathered in Tabriz, the capital of the East Azerbaijan province, to mourn at a farewell procession for President Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash on Sunday.

Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and six other people in the helicopter, including crew members, were also killed in the crash.

On Tuesday, tens of thousands of mourners, waving Iranian flags and portraits of the late president, set out from a central square in the northwestern city where Raisi was headed when his helicopter crashed.

Reporting from the capital, Tehran, Al Jazeera’s Resul Serdar said on Tuesday that funeral ceremonies for Iranian state dignitaries occur over “an extended period of time in several locations”.

After the procession in Tabriz, the bodies of Raisi, 63 and Amirabdollahian, 60, will be transferred to Tehran for another ceremony.

Before that Serdar said that later on Tuesday the bodies would be taken to Qom, a city in central Iran of great religious significance, for another ceremony and then moved to the capital.

On Wednesday, a larger ceremony will take place in Tehran, with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei expected to lead the prayers and foreign dignitaries in attendance.

Raisi’s body will then be taken to Mashhad, the country’s second-largest city located in the northeast, where he was born and raised.

Organisers in Mashhad said they are planning a “glorious” burial on Thursday for Raisi in the holy city.

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