Iranians mourn Iraqi Shiite leader

Hundreds of Iranians on Thursday mourned the death of the powerful Iraqi Shiite leader, Abdul Aziz Hakim, the satellite Press TV reported.

Crowds of Iranians gathered in front of the Iraqi embassy in Tehran on Thursday and mourned the death of the head of the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (SIIC) Abdul Aziz Hakim, who died of lung cancer in a hospital in Tehran.

Leading Iranian officials including Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani and Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki also attended the ceremony, Press TV said.

In a statement released on Thursday, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei expressed his "great sorrow" and extended condolences to the Iraqi nation, government, the SIIC and his family over his death, the report said.

Hakim's body will be transferred to Iraq on Thursday for official funerals in Baghdad and then in Najaf.

Abdul Aziz Hakim had been under medical treatment for lung cancer for a long time. He was hospitalized in a Tehran hospital on Monday upon his physicians' advice.

Hakim, 59, was diagnosed with lung cancer in May 2007 after medical tests in the United States, but he preferred to receive treatment in Iran. He made several trips to Iran for chemotherapy before being hospitalized.

As a prominent Shiite theologian and politician, he headed SIIC, the largest political party in the Iraqi parliament.

After the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, Hakim became a member of the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council and served as its rotating presidency in December 2003.

In August 2003, he replaced his brother Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim as the leader of the SIIC Shiite party, then named the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq.