Khamenei hails Azizs battle against Saddam

TEHRAN (AFP) - Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei praised leading Iraqi Shia politician Abdel
Aziz al-Hakim as the symbol of the struggle against Saddam Husseins regime on Thursday as Iranians
mourned his death.
His death is a big loss for the Iraqi people and government, and is a painful incident for the Islamic Republic (of
Iran), said Khamenei, in a message read at the mourning ceremony in Tehran where Hakim died in hospital on
Wednesday.
The Iraqi politician, who was one of the principal leaders in exile of the opposition to Saddams regime which
mounted a devastating 1980-88 war against Iran, died of lung cancer after a 28-month battle.
He symbolised the hardship involved in jihad in fighting tyranny, said Khamenei as hundreds of Iranians
gathered at the Iraqi embassy to mourn Hakims death.
The efforts and endeavour of this hardworking cleric are unique and unforgettable both in Iraq and Iran.
I pay my condolences to the Iraqi government, Hakims family and especially Ammar Hakim, he added,
referring to Hakims son, who has said he is prepared to take on his fathers mantle. Leading Iranian officials
such as parliament speaker Ali Larijani and Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki were also present at the
mourning ceremony.
He had an admirable devotion and deference to the supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei, said Larijani,
dressed in black, in an address to the mourners.
We hope his sacred way continues more powerfully and we will witness our brothers (Ammar Hakim)
increasingly effective role on the scene.
The coffin carrying Hakims body was wrapped in the Iraqi flag and borne by pallbearers a short distance from
the embassy in tribute.
Death to America. Death to Israel, the mourners chanted.
The body was to be taken to Irans Shia clerical capital of Qom before being flown to Iraq later Thursday for
burial in the central shrine city of Najaf, where Shias from around the world are traditionally taken for interment.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called Hakims death a great loss for the Iraqi people, and paid
particular tribute to his family, describing them as revolutionaries, the official IRNA news agency reported.
In 1982, Hakim helped to establish an opposition movement in exile in Iran to battle Saddams Sunni-dominated
regime, and returned to Iraq after the US-led invasion of 2003.
His Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (SIIC) swept Shia areas in the first provincial elections after the invasion, but
in new elections this January the party suffered major losses.
A former chain smoker, Hakim was admitted to a Tehran hospital on Saturday following complications.
The advanced stage of cancer had damaged his liver, brain and bones and because of that he died, said a
doctor at the Masih Daneshvari hospital.
Hakim had been in Tehran for treatment for more than four months and also visited the United States in the past
to consult lung cancer specialists.