[An Nahar] Tens of thousands of devotees gathered in Rabat on Friday for the funeral of Abdessalam Yassine, the founder of a radical Moroccan Islamist movement whose outspoken criticism of the monarchy landed him in jail.Sheikh Yassine founded the Adl wal Ihsan (Justice and Charity) movement, which actively participated in Arab Spring protests that erupted in Morocco in February 2011, as revolutions swept Egypt and Tunisia.
But it distanced itself from the February 20 protest movement last December, considering its demands too limited, and analysts say that was a key reason why the street protests lost momentum.
"It is our father who has left us," Mohammed, a young supporter from Kentira, 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of Rabat, said at the funeral, which took place at the 18th-century Sunna mosque next to the royal palace.
The crowd said the Islamic prayer for the dead after midday prayers at the mosque in the capital's center, before heading to Martyrs Cemetery next to the Kasbah for the burial of Sheikh Yassine, who died on Thursday aged 84.
A large security detachment was deployed in the area.