Iranians mourn Iraqi Shia leader

Iranians mourn Iraqi Shia leader

Crowds of Iranians have gathered in front of the Iraqi embassy in the Iranian capital to mourn the death of the Iraqi Shia leader who has succumbed to lung cancer.

Abdel Aziz al-Hakim, leader of a Shia party in Iraq died on Wednesday in a Tehran hospital after battling the illness for 28 months.
Al-Hakim's body was expected to be taken from the Iraqi embassy to Qom, the clerical nerve-centre of Iran, before being flown to Iraq later on Thursday for burial in the Shia city of Najaf.
A correspondent for the AFP news agency said a short funeral procession would be held soon.
In 1982, al-Hakim helped to establish an opposition movement in exile in Iran to battle Saddam's Sunni-dominated government, and returned to Iraq after the US-led invasion of 2003.
His SIIC party swept Shia areas in the first provincial elections after the invasion, but in elections this January it suffered major losses.
PHOTO CAPTION
Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, leader of a Shi'ite religious political party in Iraq
Agencies

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