DOSWELL, Va. (WTVR) - The body of suspected Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev has been buried in Doswell, according to the Imam with the Islamic Center of Virginia, as well as the death certificate released by Boston officials.
Imam Ammar Amonette confirmed with CBS 6 that the body is buried at the Muslim Al-Barzakh Cemetery in Doswell, in Caroline County, Va. Imam Amonette said that the Islamic Center was not consulted and that their community is upset. His interview with CBS 6 is here.
The official death certificate released by Boston officials list the Doswell cemetery as the place of disposition.
Tsarnaev's burial was coordinated by a Virginia woman who heard about the protests on NPR and decided to help, Boston Globe reporter Wesley Lowerytold CBS 6 in a phone interview.
Lowery reported that Martha Mullen, who holds a degree from United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio said "Jesus says [to] love our enemies,”
“So I was sitting in Starbucks and thought, maybe I’m the one person who needs to do something," Mullen told Lowery.
On Thursday, police in Worcester, Massachusetts said the remains have been entombed thanks to a "courageous and compassionate individual (who) came forward." The city's police chief "thanks the community that provided the burial site," police said in a written statement.
Caroline County officials distributed a statement to the media, saying they were not consulted about this, had no say in the matter and would prefer that Doswell be associated with "positive news reports."
Vice President of the Islamic Funeral Services of Virginia, Bukhari Abdel-Alim, read a statement at the entrance to cemetery later Friday afternoon.
"Of course, there was no intention to disrupt anybody - you know - personally or put anybody...or make anybody angry, basically," said Abdel-Alim. But, like I said, when you have the duty of what God says to do and what people say to do, we can deal with people, and hopefully make better relations through even this process, hopefully."
Protesters in Worcester made it clear they didn't want the body buried there, with one holding a sign that read, "Bury the garbage in the landfill." And the city manager of Cambridge, Massachusetts, where Tsarnaev lived, said he would not allow Tsarnaev to be buried in the city, asserting that possible protests and media coverage would disrupt the community.
It also appeared that sending the body overseas was an unlikely option -- Tamerlan Tsarnaev's parents in the Russian region of Dagestan said they would not fly his body back to Russia for burial, citing passport problems, spokeswoman Heda Saratova said.
Zubeidat Tsarnaev, Tamerlan's mother, told CNN in late April that her husband couldn't travel to the United States, saying he was too ill. She said she eventually would be interested in heading to the United States to see her younger son, despite pending shoplifting charges against her in Massachusetts, where she once lived.
This is a developing story. CBS 6 will have team coverage of this breaking news, with updates on WTVR.com and starting at 5 p.m. on-air.
***Information from the CNN wire contributed to this report***
