One of Iraq’s most influential Shia clerics dies aged 85

Mourners carry the coffin of Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Mohammed Saeed al-Hakim inside the holy shrine of Imam Hussein (AP)

Grand Ayatollah Sayyed Mohammed Saeed al-Hakim, one of Iraq’s most senior and influential Muslim Shia clerics, has died of a heart attack at the age of 85, his family said.

A relative, Mohsen al-Hakim, told The Associated Press that al-Hakim died at the Al Hayat hospital in the southern holy city of Najaf on Friday, where he was taken after suffering a sudden heart attack.