Millions of people flocked to Raisi's last farewell

The last farewell of the Iranian president Ibrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash, was attended by thousands of people. Thousands of people took part in the mourning procession held in the city of Tabriz in the country's East Azerbaijan province on Tuesday (May 21).

On the other hand, Iran is observing five days of mourning from today. Al Jazeera reported this information in a report on Tuesday.

According to reports, thousands of Iranian citizens have gathered in Tabriz, the capital of East Azerbaijan province, to mourn President Ibrahim Raisi, who was killed in a helicopter crash on Sunday.

Iran's President Ibrahim Raisi also died in the helicopter crash last Sunday, along with Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdullahian and seven others. Later on Monday morning, search teams found the wreckage of the helicopter in a mountainous and snow-covered area of ​​East Azerbaijan province.

Thousands of mourners marched from the central square of the northwestern Iranian city carrying Iranian flags and portraits of late President Raisi on Tuesday, Al Jazeera said. Raisi was returning here before the helicopter crashed last Sunday.

Meanwhile, Al Jazeera's Rasool Sardar from the capital Tehran said on Tuesday that funerals and farewell ceremonies for Iran's state dignitaries take place in “several locations and over extended periods of time”.

After a funeral procession in Tabriz, the bodies of President Raisi, 63, and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdullahian, 60, will be transferred to the capital Tehran for another ceremony.

Earlier on Tuesday, Sardar said the bodies would be taken to the religiously important city of Qom in central Iran for another ceremony later on Tuesday and then brought back to the capital, Tehran.

The country's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei will lead the funeral prayers at a larger ceremony in Tehran on Wednesday, and foreign dignitaries are expected to attend the funeral.

President Raisi's body will then be taken to Mashhad, the country's second-largest city in northeastern Iran. President Ibrahim Raisi was born and raised in this Iranian city. Organizers of the ceremony in Mashhad said they plan to bury Raisi next Thursday in the holy city.

Meanwhile, Iran is observing five days of mourning from today. The country's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei announced five days of mourning in memory of President Raisi in an official ceremony.