October 23, 2003	Thursday	Sha’aban 26, 1424

SARAJEVO, Oct 22: More than 150,000 mourners gathered in heavy rain on Wednesday for the funeral of Bosnian wartime leader Alija Izetbegovic, as word of his investigation for war crimes cast a pall over the ceremony.

Izetbegovic led Bosnia’s fight for independence from the former Yugoslavia and many Bosnian Muslims see him as the “father of the nation” who defended them against Serb aggression and genocide and fought Serb and Croat separatism in the 1992-95 war. After the war, he was twice elected to the country’s inter-ethnic presidency

Police said more than 100,000 people thronged in front of the war-scarred central parliament and government building and lined streets in the centre for a religious ceremony and funeral procession. Many of them shouted “Allah-o-Akbar”.

Izetbegovic’s coffin, draped in a rain-drenched Bosnian flag, was borne on a military vehicle to the old part of town.

Hundreds in turn lofted it high above their heads to a grave among ranks of Muslims who died in the siege of Sarajevo, in which 12,000 were killed over 43 months.

Mourners reacted with dismay to the news from The Hague.

One middle-aged Islamic priest said it was “shameful”, adding the tribunal should have spoken out while Izetbegovic was alive as he was ready to face the court.

Moderate Muslim politician Rasim Kadic said the international community was making aggressors and victims equal: “Until the end they treated him like from the first day of the war — with an arms embargo and no help to defend ourselves.”—Reuters/dpa