Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s body was kept for four months, officials said the body had not been buried or mummed in secret. Rather, it was stored in the modern forensic freezer (morgue cold storage).
According to Iranian authorities, the U.S.-Israel war and security risks could not be buried quickly. After the ceasefire, the state funeral is now being held in a phased manner.
Khamenei is planned to be buried in the shrine premises of Imam Reza (a.s.) in Mashhad on July 9th. Earlier, a programme of paying of publicity and respect to certain cities in Iran and Iraq, including Tehran, Kom, will be held.
According to officials, although Islam usually has a provision for early burial, there is an opportunity to bury the body in the freezer according to the Shia religious law in war, security or special emergencies. That’s why the body was kept.
Unprecedented security arrangements have been made at the funeral. In the past, special plans have been made to control the public gatherings by taking lessons from the experience of many people’s deaths in the funeral of Ayatollah Ruhullah Khomeini and General Qassem Soleimani.
The Iranian government also sees the state funeral as a display of national unity and state power. The event is expected to be carried out peacefully through tight security and planning.