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. The BBC reported that millions of mourners gathered in Soleimani's funeral on 6 January. The Times of Israel had estimated "more than 10 million" in what was the largest funeral procession since Ayatollah Khomeini's.
Soleimani's body was buried in his hometown of Kerman on Wednesday, 8 January, just hours after Iran attacked two US bases in Iraq in retaliation for his death.
Background
Soleimani was the head of the Quds Force, a branch of the IRGC, specializing in unconventional warfare and military intelligence operations throughout the Middle East and South-Central Asia. At the time of his death, he was seen as the second most powerful person in Iran and the right hand man of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The U.S. secretary of state designated the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Quds Force as a Foreign Terrorist Organization in 2019 based on the IRGC's "continued support to and engagement in terrorist activity around the world." After the December 2019 United States airstrikes in Iraq and Syria targeting Iraqi Shia militia, U.S. president Donald Trump ordered his assassination, in which Iraqi paramilitary leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis was killed.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
Iranian State TV estimated that there were millions of mourners in Mashhad and Ahvaz on 5 January. According to ABC, more than a million gathered in Ahvaz.Tehran and Qom
CNN 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 in attendance. The mourners had Soleimani's photos in their hands, screamed "down with the USA" and "death to the USA". BBC reported millions of mourners.Satellite imagery released by Maxar showed that gathered people stretched from "Azadi Square and for nearly 6 kilometres along Azadi Street in central Tehran" on 6 January morning. Associated Press journalists estimated "a turnout of at least 1 million" in Tehran.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei led the funeral prayer of Soleimani and other victims of the U.S. airstrike. President of Iran Hassan Rouhani and other officials took part to funeral prayer. General Esmail 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. The 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.
Crowd crush and burial cancellation
On 7 January 2020, a crowd crush occurred 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."In a rousing speech at her father's funeral in Tehran, Soleimani's daughter Zeynab promised that three of her honorary "uncles" would exact revenge for her father's death: the Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, the Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, and Bashar al-Assad.