Leader performs prayers over body of martyr Haniyeh

TEHRAN, Aug. 01 (MNA) – Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said prayers over the body of martyr Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the political bureau of Hamas.

Ayatollah Khamenei performed the prayers in a ceremony at the University of Tehran on Thursday morning before a funeral procession in the capital city.

Iranian people, government and military officials are taking part in the procession.

The ceremony to bid farewell to Martyr Ismail Haniyeh started this morning (Thursday) at the University of Tehran.

Mourners holding portraits of Haniyeh gathered in and around the University of Tehran, where Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei prayers over the coffin of the Hamas chief and one his bodyguards.

The office of the Supreme Leader had announced that the funeral prayer would be held at the university premise before the mourners march toward the Azadi Square.

Ismail Haniyeh, the political bureau chief of the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas, and one of his bodyguards were killed in their residence in the Iranian capital early on Wednesday.

They were killed after their residence was hit, the public relations office of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said in a statement.

The reasons behind the attack are under investigation and the details will be released later, the statement read.

Haniyeh was in Tehran to attend the inauguration ceremony of the new Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Tuesday (July 30).