Iranian president joins world leaders in condemning Japan ex-PM’s assassination

People lay flowers at the site near Yamato-Saidaiji station in Nara, western Japan, where late former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was shot while campaigning for a parliamentary election.

In a message to Japan’s incumbent premier Fumio Kishida late on Friday, Raisi described the attack that led to Abe’s death earlier in the day as “inhumane”.

Abe died in hospital on Friday hours after being shot while speaking at an election campaign event in the southern city of Nara.

The slain politician was Japan’s longest-serving prime minister who held office in 2006 for one year and again from 2012 to 2020.

He was out campaigning for his former party, the Liberal Democratic Party, in the run-up to elections on Sunday.

“The deceased,” Raeisi wrote, “was a great statesman for the Japanese people and a global personality, who played an important role in the development of the Islamic Republic’s historical relations with Japan.”

“I express my condolences and deep sympathy with you and the friendly Japanese government and people [over the tragedy],” read the letter by the Iranian president.

Earlier on Friday, Iran’s foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian also wrote to his Japanese counterpart Hayashi Yoshimasa, expressing his condolences, and calling Abe “a notable leader, who played an important role in the East Asia region’s developments.”

The Iranian top diplomat also described Abe’s initiatives and efforts towards the reinforcement of Japan’s ties with the Islamic Republic as “valuable.”