Shafaq News- Najaf (Updated at 22:21)
Najaf provincial authorities are finalizing arrangements to host the Iraqi stage of the funeral procession for Iran's late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, the country's highest political and religious authority for more than three decades, with the main march scheduled to begin on July 8, a provincial official told Shafaq News on Saturday.
The procession will set out at 6:00 a.m. Wednesday from al-Sadr Teaching Hospital in the southern part of the city overpass toward the shrine of Imam Ali bin Abi Taleb, one of the holiest sites in Shiite Islam, according to Haidar Kaboun, director of the Rituals and Mass Pilgrimages Department at the Najaf provincial administration. A committee overseeing the event has held its third planning meeting and is arranging services and logistics for mourners along the route, he said.
Registrations point to a turnout well beyond the groups confirmed so far. More than 60 Husseini processions, volunteer groups that provide food, water and services to religious pilgrims, have signed up, a figure Kaboun expects to exceed 100, with most stationed along the march route.
Najaf will stage two separate programs, according to Governor Youssef Kanawi. The first is an official ceremony attended by state leaders, heads of political blocs, cabinet ministers and members of parliament; the second is a public procession open to the wider community.
The office of Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi also instructed government ministries and administrative units to assign buses to transport participants to the ceremonies in Najaf and Karbala, an informed source told Shafaq News.
Baghdad, Najaf, Babil, Dhi Qar, Basra, Wasit, and Maysan provinces declared Wednesday an official holiday to allow participation in the funeral events.
Khamenei was killed on February 28. Iraq's role in the funeral is limited to the provinces of Najaf and Karbala, two cities central to Shiite religious life, where organizers expect mass participation.
Under the announced schedule, Khamenei's body will be flown from the Iranian holy city of Qom to Najaf International Airport, then taken to the shrine of Imam Ali for farewell rites. The procession will continue to Karbala —home to the shrine of Imam Hussein bin Ali, another of Shiite Islam's holiest sites— passing along Al-Abbas Street to the area between the two shrines, before the body returns to Najaf airport for transfer to the Iranian city of Mashhad, where Khamenei is to be buried at the shrine of Imam Ali bin Mousa al-Rida (Imam Reza) on July 9.
Official funeral ceremonies began in Tehran on Friday and are scheduled to continue for about a week before burial, according to the committee organizing the ceremonies.