Al-Hakim’s funeral will include Basra, Baghdad, Najaf – leader

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: A leader of the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (SIIC) said on Thursday that the body of Abdulaziz al-Hakim will arrive in the Basra international airport and will then be carried to Baghdad, and finally to Najaf, where he will be buried. “There is no set program for the funeral, but he will most probably arrive in Basra, where an official farewell ceremony will be held, before moving to Baghdad and then the body will be he aded to Najaf, where he will b uried,” Hamid Rashied al-Maala told Iraqi News. The cleric died on Wednesday (Aug. 26) after his medical team had failed to prevent deterioration in his health. Ammar al-Hakim, son of Abdulaziz al-Hakim, announced in an urgent statement the death of his father, praising his history in fighting the former regime and consoling the Iraqi people and the Islamic world. Al-Hakim, born in 1950, headed the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC) since 2003, after his brother, Grand Ayatollah Muhammad Baqer al-Hakim, was killed in a car bomb. Abdulaziz al-Hakim’s son Ammar al-Hakim is expected to next lead the SIIC. SIIC is part of Iraq ’s ruling Shiite alliance, which also includes Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s Dawa party, but SIIC announced this week it would lead a new group to compete in January’s polls without Maliki. SH (S)/SR 1