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Tens Of Thousands Attend Funeral Of Top Lebanese Shiite Cleric
BEIRUT (News Agencies) - Tens of thousands of mourners, including officials from Lebanon, Syria and Iran, attended the funeral Friday of the head of Lebanon's Shiite Muslim Higher Council, who died earlier this week.
Sheikh Mohammad Mehdi Shamseddine, 66, died in a hospital Wednesday.
He was buried in the courtyard of the al-Sadeq mosque, which was built during his tenure as head of Lebanon's Shiite Muslim community.
Before the burial, Lebanon's speaker of parliament, Nabih Berri, placed on Sheikh Mohammad's bier the country's highest decoration, the Grand Ribbon of the Order of the Cedar.
Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri and Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, secretary general of the Shiite group Hezbollah, also attended, as well as Sunni Muslim and Christian and Druze religious leaders, along with members of the diplomatic corps.
Predominantly Shiite Iran was represented by two delegations.
Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammad Sadr headed a group sent by President Mohammad Khatami while Mehdi Kani led a group sent by Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Religious Affairs Minister Mohammad Ziadeh represented Syria.
Shamseddine had returned to Lebanon less than two weeks ago after about three months of treatment for cancer in a Paris hospital.
The cleric, known for his moderation and his diplomacy, had headed the council, the community's highest body, since 1994.
Before that, he had been the council's vice president since its founder, Imam Mussa Sadr, disappeared in still unknown circumstances during a trip to Libya in 1978.
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