The funeral of Abbas Ali Soleimani, who was killed by a bank employee with a Kalashnikov weapon

The killing of Abbas Ali Soleimani stunned both bystanders who witnessed the shooting and the wider public. The cleric had served on the country’s Assembly of Experts, which selects and oversees the Republic’s supreme leader. It comes after mass protests and a bloody security force crackdown on demonstrators following the September death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini after her arrest by the country’s morality police. Authorities offered no immediate motive for the attack in Babolsar, in Mazandaran province, just north of the capital. Initially, state television described a man overpowering a guard and shooting the cleric. But later surveillance footage shared widely by the media showed the shooter inside the bank, openly carrying a firearm, and milling around briefly before he walked up to Soleimani and shot him.

April 28, 2023 | 9:24 pm