Saturday, August 29, 2009
BAGHDAD (AP) — Thousands of mourners marched through Baghdad behind the coffin of one of the country’s most powerful Shiite leaders Friday, and eulogies from rivals and allies reflected deep worry over the political void left by his death.
Abdul Aziz al-Hakim’s death from lung cancer comes at a time of disarray among Iraqi Shiites. Just this week, his party formed a new political grouping to contest January’s parliamentary elections that excludes the Iraqi prime minister, setting up a showdown between the two former allies.
Rivalries were put aside as al-Hakim’s body was flown back to Iraq from Iran, where he died Wednesday, but tensions were clear as he was remembered in memorial services.
“We have lost you while we are undergoing a delicate and sensitive period and in a time when we are in need of strong men with experience and who have made great sacrifices,” Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said at the airport upon the arrival of al-Hakim’s coffin.
Islamic tradition usually requires the dead to be buried swiftly, preferably within hours. But political factors were at play in the case of al-Hakim — one of Iraq’s most influential power brokers — and his body was taken on a three-day mourning tour starting with memorials Thursday in Iran and ending with burial today in the Shiite holy city of Najaf in southern Iraq.
Iraq is having parliamentary elections Jan. 16 in which competition over the Shiite vote will be stiff because of the split among Shiite parties.