Iranian Islamic Cleric assassinated amid Hija Protests

Babolsar,  Apr 27: A purported video of a senior Shiite cleric in Iran who was shot dead Wednesday morning in an attack in a northern province along the Caspian Sea has emerged on social media. As per reports, an attacker pumped bullets into Ayatollah Abbas Ali Soleimani in Babolsar in Iran's Mazandaran province. The attacker was later arrested by the authorities, although the motive for the shooting is not clear yet.

 

 

 

The governor of Mazandaran, Mahmoud Hosseinipour, claimed that Soleimani was shot dead by a security guard at the bank, according to Iranian state media.

 

 

 

Soleimani, a member of the Islamic Republic’s Assembly of Experts for Leadership, was also a former representative of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and was considered to be his close aide. Khamenei's representatives are clerics who have been given powers to officiate on behalf of the supreme leader at a provincial level. The deputy police chief of Mazandaran Province, northern Iran said "The armed guard of Bank Melli used his weapon to open fire on Abbasali Soleimani. He was killed on the spot."

 

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Soleimani served on the Assembly of Experts a panel that consists of 88 dignitaries that appoints Iran's supreme leader.

Soleimani also once was the personal representative of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to Iran's restive Sistan and Baluchestan provinces.