Iranian religious leader condemns murder of Hamas leader

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the religious leader of Iran, condemned the murder of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the spiritual leader of Hamas, and called upon the Palestinians to continue his cause.

"To die for his faith was undoubtedly always in the dreams of that pious fighter ... but this cannot of course justify the great sin of the villains resorting to violence," Ayatollah Khamenei said in a statement published on Tuesday.

"By committing this crime, they deprived Yassin and the Palestinians only of the weak and sick body; however, they are unable to take his thoughts, his policies or the path he opened for the Palestinian nation," he said.