TEHRAN – Lamprini Thoma, a foreign correspondent of the independent Greek news portal the Press Project, has made a documentary entitled “Farewell to the Hero” about Commander Qassem Soleimani.

The documentary has been produced with contributions from Iran’s Cultural Office in Athens.

The film begins with the voice of the commander announcing the end of ISIS. The Greek TV channels’ coverage of Soleimani’s assassination comes next. It goes on with reports prepared by Thoma.

Thoma traveled to Tehran during the funeral ceremony of IRGC Quds Force chief Soleimani, who was assassinated during a U.S. airstrike in Baghdad on January 3, 2020.

“After getting out of the plane in Tehran, I see him everywhere. General Qassem Soleimani, that is. On the TV are images of him I have never seen before. Black and white footage from when he was a soldier, a lieutenant, a young man during the Iran-Iraq war,” Thoma said in an article published on the Press Project on January 17, 2020.

“On billboards on the side of the road and on the bridges, there is his image. Different images of him, words in Farsi, but I do not know Farsi. There is only one phrase I can read, written in English. An entire world will avenge you. An entire world. For you,” she writes.

“There are moments that I do not want to raise my cellphone’s camera. Due to respect, anxiety, and, yes, that feeling that I am a stranger. I can see his image, but that is all. I can see the thousands of images in the arms of common people,” she adds.

“It is not only Tehran. It is the whole of Iran. On the same evening, on the TV, all stations display a black ribbon up left. People are everywhere, all streets are full. There hasn’t been a funeral like that since the one of Ayatollah Khomeini. And never ever did the body of the hero passed so many cities, so many sacred places, for people to pay respects. Never, since 1989, a funeral had many million people traveling to pay their respects,” she mentions.

“I have four or five hours in the streets. I’m going up and down the procession, they are always moving forward. Standing still are only the policemen, the girls of the Red Crescent, the water vessels for the thirsty, water for the people of the desert. And then, slowly, they go back home, with all their flags held upright, not even one wrapped,” she concludes.

The demonstration of people in front of the U.S Embassy in Tehran in protest against the martyrdom of the Commander in addition to the images of his funeral are also included in the documentary. 

Photo: A photo by Greek correspondent Lamprini Thoma shows people attending the funeral procession of Commander Qassem Soleimani in Tehran.

RM/MMS/YAW