Funeral of Qasem Soleimani


The funeral of Qasem Soleimani, an Iranian major general in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, was held from 4 to 7 January 2020 in some cities in Iraq and Iran – including Baghdad, Karbala, Najaf, Ahvaz, Mashhad, Tehran, Qom, and his hometown Kerman. The funeral ceremony of Soleimani in Tehran was described as "the largest in Iran since the funeral of Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini", founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, in 1989.
On 7 January 2020, a stampede took place at the burial procession in Kerman, killing at least 56 mourners and injuring over 200. Consequently, Soleimani's burial was delayed due to the massive crowds.
His body was buried in his hometown of Kerman on Wednesday, 8 January, just hours after Iran attacked two US bases in Iraq.

Iraq

On 5 January, a funeral procession for Qasem Soleimani was held in Baghdad with thousands of mourners in attendance, waving militia and Iraqi flags and chanting "death to America, death to Israel". The procession started at the Al-Kadhimiya Mosque in Baghdad. Iraq's prime minister, Adil Abdul-Mahdi, and leaders of Iran-backed militias attended the funeral procession. Soleimani's remains were taken to the holy Shia cities of Karbala and Najaf.

Iran

Mashhad and Ahvaz

estimated that there were millions of mourners in Mashhad and Ahvaz on 5 January.

Tehran and Qom

described the number of mourners who participated in the Tehran funeral with "a sea of people" on Monday. Iranian State TV reported estimates of millions of mourners there. The mourners had Soleimani's photos in their hands, screamed "down with the USA" and "death to the USA".
Satellite imagery showed that gathered people stretched from "Azadi Square and for nearly 6 kilometres along Azadi Street in central Tehran". Associated Press journalists estimated "a turnout of at least 1 million" in Tehran. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei prayed over Soleimani's body during the funeral ceremony alongside President of Iran Hassan Rouhani and other officials. General Ismail Qaani cried over his coffin.

Kerman

According to France24, the number of mourners attending the funeral procession in Kerman, Tehran, Qom, Mashhad, and Ahvaz were roughly the same. BBC stated that there were widespread chants of "death to America" and "death to Trump". During Ayatollah Khomeini's 1989 funeral procession, eight people were killed in a stampede, also caused in part due to difficulty in containing the massive crowd.
Soleimani had asked prior to his death to be buried next to his wartime comrade Mohammad-Hossein Yousefollahi. He asked for a simple gravestone "similar to shahid comrades" and with the inscription " Soldier Qassem Soleimani", without any honorific title.

Stampede and burial cancellation

On 7 January 2020, a stampede crush took place at the burial procession for Soleimani in Kerman, killing at least 56 mourners and injuring more than 200. Head of the burial committee Mehdi Sadafi told the state-run ISNA news agency that Soleimani's burial was cancelled after the deaths.

Reactions

Commenting on photos of the huge crowds in Tehran's funeral, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iran Javad Zarif tweeted: "Do you still imagine you can break the will of this great nation and its people? End of malign US presence in West Asia has begun."