Cape Town Shia Muslim association mourns Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

Congregants at the Ahlul Bait Foundation of South Africa - an association of Shia Muslim communities - gathered in Cape Town to pay their respects to Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed by US-Israeli military operations in Iran.

With candles, Iranian flags and a book to leave words in, mourners of the Shia Muslim community in Cape Town gathered in front of a portrait of the late Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Khamanei was killed in surprise joint US and Israeli airstrikes on Tehran on Saturday. His death was confirmed early on Sunday by Iranian state television.

The action came after months of anti-government protest in Iran, with authorities carrying out a brutal crackdown, arresting tens of thousands and killing thousands.

Khamenei's death triggered contrasting reactions, from celebrations in Israel and among Iranian diasporas to outcry in Iran, Iraq and Pakistan.

In the Cape Town Shia community, mourning was also interspersed with outrage, with national coordinator Syed Aftab Haider saying that the US and Israel "killed a great leader whose crime was nothing but to resist for independence and sovereignty and rights of his own country".

Among large parts of the Iranian diaspora and also inside Iran, Khamenei's death however triggered celebrations and shouts of joy. The 86-year-old had headed a regime that ruled over Iran with brutal methods for decades, most recently killing thousands of protesters when citizens took to the streets in early January.