By Kevin Deutsch
Newsday (MCT)
Tamerlan Tsarnaev's mother, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, has called the director of a Worcester, Mass., funeral home where Tsarnaev's body awaits burial -- and asked him to do what he can to get the body back to Russia, the director said Monday.
Peter Stefan of Graham Putnam & Mahoney Funeral Parlor said Tsarnaeva was crying as she made the request.
"She's still his mother," Stefan said.
Tsarnaev's uncle, as well as a Muslim religious leader and two other of the uncle's friends, have cleansed and wrapped Tsarnaev's body in accordance with Islamic law, Stefan said. It is ready for burial but no cemeteries have agreed to take it, Stefan said.
He said he has a refrigeration system at the funeral home that allows for the continued preservation of the body.
Stefan also said he would pay to ship the body to another country if the U.S. State Department assures him it will be handled respectfully and buried properly.
"This has turned political," he said.
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