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BAGHDAD — 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.
Rivalries were put aside as Abdul Aziz al-Hakim’s body was flown back to Iraq from Iran, where he died Wednesday of lung cancer.
Islamic tradition 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. He will be buried today in the Shiite holy city of Najaf in southern Iraq.
