The head of Shiite Endowment, secretaries and representatives of the Holy Shrines, representatives from different religions and sect, and scientific, academic, literary, religious, political and media figures from 35 Arab and Islamic countries attended the opening ceremony of the festival.
The delegation of Imam Ali Holy Shrine was headed by the Secretary General, Mr. Nizar Hashim Habl Al-Mateen and the heads and representatives of the Religious Affairs', Public Relations and Media departments of Imam Ali Holy Shrine had attended the opening ceremony.
In his speech in the opening ceremony, the legitimate custodian of Imam Abbas Holy Shrine Sayyed Ahmed al-Safi said,
"The issue of the martyrs of Imam Hussein (Peace be upon him) is the first sort for right from wrong and authentic from the intruder; it was epic wider than its place and its time. longer than the events of history and the oldest from the beginning, as well as the fact that the men of the epic are the largest men on earth."
He added that "our country is currently engaged in a fierce and vicious war against a misguided class that has caused the earth to plunder, trying to tear apart the nation, break up the word and uproot the roots of love and peace. But it failed with awareness, vigilance, diet and courage of our men."
The head of the Shiite Endowment, Sayyed Alaa al-Moussawi said, "Imam Hussein, (Peace be upon him) in the Holy Quran is one of the personalities of Ahl al-Bait and he had a great share in the life of the Prophet (peace be upon him) and his statements and conversations during which he explained the status of this great man and his role in Nation and the survival of the message. "
The representative of Vatican, Alberto Ortego Martin said, "I remind you of closeness and love to this country and to the Middle East in general, and I invite you to pray for peace and the importance of dialogue and cooperation between all components to build society."
He added, "We are all brothers and our father is Ibrahim (Peace be upon him) and I invite you to continue to maintain unity."