IRAQ: HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE JOIN FUNERAL PROCESSION OF ASSASSINATED CLERIC AYATOLLAH MOHAMMED BAQER- AL HAKIM

Record ID: 647857

  • Title: IRAQ: HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE JOIN FUNERAL PROCESSION OF ASSASSINATED CLERIC AYATOLLAH MOHAMMED BAQER- AL HAKIM
  • Date: 31st August 2003
  • Summary: U2) AL-KHADIMIYABAGHDAD, IRAQ (AUGUST 31, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. HIGH VIEW OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE GATHERING IN SQUARE OUTSIDE MOSQUE FOR FUNERAL PROCESSION FOR SHI'ITE LEADER AL-HAKIM, KILLED IN CAR BOMB ATTACK IN NAJAF 0.04 2. WIDE OF MOURNERS BEATING THEIR CHESTS, 0.11 3. WIDE OF WOMEN IN BLACK , BEATING THEIR BREASTS AND HOLDING BANNER 0.16 3. WIDE OF MOURNERS CARRYING COFFIN OF AL-HAKIM, TAKING IT OUT OF SHRINE AND TOWARDS TRUCK AT START OF LONG DRIVE TO KERBALA AND NAJAF 0.26 4. WIDE OF TRUCK CARRYING STALLED BY HUGE CROWD, HIGH VIEW OF CROWD 0.33 5. WIDE OF MEN BEATING THEIR CHESTS 0.38 6. WIDE OF FUNERAL PROCESSION SURROUNDED BY CROWD 0.44 7. HAV, CROWD AND MOSQUE WITH FUNERAL PROCESSION 0.57 8. SLV COFFIN MOVING SLOWLY THROUGH CROWD, 1.01 9. WIDE OF WOMEN BEATING THEIR HEADS 1.05 10. WIDE OF OURNERS CARRYING COFFIN OF AL-HAKIM, TAKING IT OUT OF SHRINE AND TOWARDS TRUCK AT START OF LONG DRIVE TO KERBALA AND NAJAF 1.08 11. SMV SHI'ITE CLERIC AL-MUDARISI TAKING PART IN THE PROCESSION 1.13 12. HIGH VIEW OF CROWD 1.19 (U3) BARATHA MOSQUE, UTAYFIYA, BAGHDAD, IRAQ (AUGUST 31, 2003) (REUTERS) 13. WIDE OF BARATHA MOSQUE, PAN DOWN TO CROWD 1.24 14. SLV AHMED CHALABI, MEMBER OF THE GOVERNING COUNCIL, ARRIVING WITH HIS BODYGUARDS 1.28 15. WIDE OF MEN BEATING THEIR HEADS 1.33 16. WIDE OF FUNERAL PROCESSION BY MOSQUE, 1.40 17. SMV CHALABI WATCHING 1.49 18. PAN OF MEN HOLDING PICTURES OF AL-HAKIM AND BEATING THEIR HEADS 1.55 19. WIDE OF MOHAMMED BAHR UL-ULOOM, WHO SUSPENDED HIS MEMBERSHIP IN THE GOVERNING COUNCIL IN PROTEST AT THE ASSASSINATION, ARRIVING AT THE MOSQUE 2.01 20. VARIOUS OF THE FUNERAL PROCESSION MOVING ON, CLERICS AND OTHER DIGNITARIES ON TRUCK ALONG WITH COFFIN 2.14 21. WIDE OF FUNERAL PROCESSION PASSING MOSQUE 2.17 22. PAN OF MOURNERS ON TRUCK CARRYING COFFIN 2.25 23. WIDE OF MAN HOLDING MACHINE GUN, LOOKING AT FUNERAL PROCESSION 2.30 24. WIDE OF MOURNERS CALLING FOR REVENGE 2.35 25. WIDE / PAN SHOWING TENS OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE IN STREET 2.59 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 15th September 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: AL-KHADIMIYA AND BARATHA MOSQUE, UTAYFIYA, BAGHDAD, IRAQ
  • Country: Iraq
  • Reuters ID: LVA7FAFC4123BIM5CVZ0J05PWI9K
  • Story Text: Hundreds of thousands of people crowd
    streets of Baghdad for funeral procession for slain Ayatollah
    Mohammed Baqer al-Hakim.




    Thousands of Iraqis thronged Baghdad on Sunday
    (August 31) for the funeral procession of Ayatollah
    Mohammed Baqer al-Hakim, a top Shi'ite Muslim cleric slain
    by a car bomb which also killed scores of his followers.

    Mourners, including women in black, packed into the
    streets around the city's Mousa al-Kadhim mosque, where
    Hakim's remains had lain overnight. They chanted and beat
    their chests as the coffin, draped in a large black cloth,
    was carried through the crowd and then placed on a truck,
    guarded by men with automatic rifles.

    The funeral procession will take Hakim's remains to
    several sites revered by Shi'ite Muslims, ending on Tuesday
    in the holy city of Najaf where he will be buried. By
    mid-morning, it had reached the Baratha mosque in the
    Baghdad district of Utayfiya.

    Some members of the interim Governing Council,
    including Ahmed Chalabi and Mohammed Bahr ul-Uloom, who
    suspended his membership of the Council in protest after
    the assasination, joined the funeral procession.

    When the mourners spotted al-Hakim's nephew Amar
    al-Hakim, they shouted for vengeance.

    The cleric was killed on Friday in the deadliest attack
    in Iraq since the end of the war that ousted Saddam
    Hussein. Hakim had advised Shi'ites, who make up about 60
    percent of Iraq's 26 million population, to pursue a policy
    of cautious cooperation with the country's U.S.-led
    occupying authorities.

    Hospital officials said on Saturday the death toll from
    the attack was at least 95. Many more people were wounded
    by the bomb, which exploded just after Friday prayers
    outside the Imam Ali mosque in Najaf, one of the most
    sacred sites in Shi'ite Islam.

    Many Shi'ites have blamed the attack on diehard
    supporters of Saddam, who repressed the Shi'ite community
    when he was in power. Some analysts have also suggested
    Shi'ites opposed to Hakim's moderate political positions
    could be to blame.

    Three people have been detained over the bombing, a
    senior U.S. military officer told Reuters on Saturday. He
    gave few details about them but said two had indicated they
    were from the southern city of Basra and had been visiting
    the grave of a relative.


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