Iraq's top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, passed through Beirut on his way to London Friday to receive treatment for a heart condition.
Two Beirut airport security officials said Sistani arrived on a chartered jet from Iraq and departed on a scheduled Middle East Airlines flight for London.
"The ayatollah suffered a health crisis related to his heart a few days ago," Sistani's spokesman in Beirut, Sheikh Hamed Khafaf, told The Associated Press on Thursday. "A team of specialist doctors are treating him and providing care." (albawaba.com)
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