Iran's late president Raisi laid to rest in home city of Mashhad

Tehran, May 23 (IANS/DPA) Iran's late president Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash at the weekend, was laid to rest in his home city of Mashhad on Thursday.

Raisi was buried next to the mausoleum of the eighth Shiite Imam Reza in Mashhad, state broadcaster IRIB reported. It is considered the most important Shia shrine in Iran.

Three million people attended the funeral ceremony in Mashhad, according to the state news agency IRNA. There were no independent estimates.

Raisi, foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and seven other occupants were killed in a helicopter crash in the northwest of the country on Sunday. Amirabdollahian was buried in the capital Tehran on Thursday.

Prior to this, there was another state-organized funeral service for the president in his home region of Khorasan, where tens of thousands took part.

The provincial capital of Birjand was chosen as the penultimate stop of the funeral ceremonies because Raisi had a special relationship with the city, explained Vice President Mohsen Mansouri. Raisi also represented Birjand on the Council of Experts, an influential clerical body in Iran.