TEHRAN (Iran News) –In a funeral service at the University of Tehran on Wednesday morning, Ayatollah Khamenei led the prayers in front of the coffins of President Raisi and seven others who were martyred in a helicopter crash on May 19.

Ayatollah Khamenei on Monday offered his condolences on the “martyrdom-like” passing away of the president, declared five days of public mourning, and appointed the first vice president as the manager of the executive power.

A huge crowd of people from all walks of life have attended the funeral service in the University of Tehran.

Mourners will then march in procession to the Azadi (Liberty) Square.

Separate funeral services were held in Tabriz and Qom yesterday, before the bodies were transferred to Tehran for people to bid farewell to the eight martyrs at the Grand Musalla (prayer hall) on Tuesday night.

The president will be laid to rest Thursday at noon in the holy city of Mashhad in northeastern Iran, where the holy shrine of Imam Reza (AS) is located.

A helicopter carrying President Raisi and his entourage crashed in northwestern mountainous forests on Sunday.

The fatal accident happened as the president was returning from Khoda Afarin region in Iran’s northwestern province of East Azarbaijan after inaugurating a dam at the common border with the Republic of Azerbaijan.

The crash killed President Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, Friday prayers leader of Tabriz Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Al-e-Hashem, Governor of East Azarbaijan Malek Rahmati, the commander of the president’s security team, two pilots and a flight crew.

At the beginning of the funeral procession in Tehran, Ayatollah Khamenei, accompanied by the country’s top military commanders, prayed near Hojaji’s Iranian-flag-wrapped casket.

Imam Khamenei also met the family of the revered young martyr and praised their fortitude.

In a statement issued on Sunday, the public relations department of the IRGC said the funeral procession of Martyr Mohsen Hojaji is planned to be held in the Iranian capital on Wednesday, September 27.

The statement also called on the Iranian people from all walks of life to massively participate in the ceremony.

Earlier, the funeral of Martyr Hojaji had been slated to be held in Tehran on September 2 but the event was postponed due to some unannounced reasons.

The Lebanese Hezbollah Resistance Movement on August 31 received the body of Martyr Hojaji from Daesh based on a ceasefire deal between the two sides.

The transfer of Lebanon’s captured soldiers and two martyrs, as well as the body of Martyr Hojaji, took place after the buses carrying Daesh militants and their families arrived in the ancient city of Palmyra in Homs Province, according to media reports.

Hojaji, a holy shrine defender, was taken hostage by the Daesh Takfiri group near the Iraqi border on August 7 and was beheaded two days later.

The shrine of Sayyida Zeinab, a sister of Imam Hossein (AS), the third Shiite Imam, is located in Damascus, Syria. Iranian military advisers have played a decisive role in the protection of the holy shrine against terrorist attacks.