TEHRAN Iranians in and outside the country as well as all freedom-lovers across the world marked the 12th departure anniversary of the Father of the Islamic Republic, the late Imam Rouhollah Khomeini.

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Islamic Republic officials as well as thousands of mourners gathered in the mausoleum of the late Imam on Monday to mark the occasion.

The Leader Ayatollah Khamenei on addressing the mourners at the mausoleum of the Founder of the Islamic Revolution Imam Khomeini, called on the nation to turn out in mass to vote in this Friday's presidential elections and stay alert to enemy plots.

Speaking on the 12th anniversary of Imam Khomeini's demise, Ayatollah Khamenei told a huge congregation of mourners in a sweltering heat that the nation's massive turnout in the elections would prove the Islamic Republic's dignity in enemies' eyes and neutralize their plots.

"The presidential election is a divine trial and a massive and enlightened presence of the people in that arena will grant dignity and honor to Islam and strengthen the Islamic system," IRNA quoted the Leader as saying.

He called the election as "an expression of the public will," saying that "the Islamic system, without people's support and their votes is null and void."

"Republicanism has an Islamic root in our system and the basis of people's rights and their decisive role is based on strong Islamic concepts," the Leader said.

The enemies, Ayatollah Khamenei said, were trying to turn the election into a lackluster as well as political riots and confrontations.

He said some people in the country were propagating the notion that presence of enemies in Islamic ranks is "an illusion" and warned against "negligence" toward enemy's plots.

Iranians are preparing to cast their votes on Friday for their favorite choice among 10 candidates who have put themselves forward with many pledges, encompassing all aspects of social, economics and political fields. Some 42 million are eligible to participate in the polls. In a speech on the same occasion, Hojjatoleslam Seyed Hassan Khomeini, the grandson of the late Imam Khomeini, called on all those faithfuls to the cause of the late Imam not to take Imam's thoughts and ideas as out of context political tools and inform people of all the realities surrounding his great ideas.

Hojjatoleslam Khomeini told a large gathering of mourners at the Imam's mausoleum, that after the late Leader's departure, his companions gathered at the Experts Assembly and announced Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as his successor.

The main precondition to avoid distortion of the late Imam's ideas is commitment of all his followers and the Iranian nation to his strategic role, added Hojjatoleslam Khomeini.

Also, former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has called on the people to massively turn out in Friday's presidential elections, saying the 1979 Islamic Revolution and the Islamic system owe their existence to the national participation.

He was also addressing the crowd in the mausoleum of the late Imam.

He stressed high turnout in the 8th presidential elections, slated for June 8, noting it would demonstrate to the world that Iranian people have not succumbed to the poisonous propaganda waged by enemies against them.

The occasion was also marked in the cities of Iran and many other countries such as Sydney, Australia, Dubai, Moscow, Russia, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Kuwait, South Korea and Malaysia.

Preachers at the ceremonies elaborated on the great personality of the late Imam. Some participants to the ceremonies in Tajikistan and Malaysia in separate interviews with IRNA hailed the great role of the late Imam in shaping history.