Across the Middle East, Orthodox Christians observed Holy Week with processions, hymns and incense, while in Sudan, adherents of an Islamic mystical order danced and chanted until nightfall at the tomb of a 19th century Sufi leader.
Iranian protesters gathered outside the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Tehran in a rare unauthorized protest against the alleged abuse by Saudi authorities of two Iranian men returning from a pilgrimage. Demonstrators shouted: "Shame on you!" and "Death to House of Saud!" in reference to the kingdom's ruling family.
In the West Bank town of Beit Ummar, mourners carried the body of Ziyad Awad during his funeral after he was killed in clashes with Israeli soldiers.
In Egypt, policemen guarded a defendants' cage as a verdict was issued in the trial of several Muslim Brotherhood members in a case stemming from violence following the 2013 military overthrow of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.
Outside the northern Iraqi city of Tikrit, recently recaptured from the Islamic State group, forensics workers unearthed a mass grave believed to contain the bodies of Iraqi soldiers massacred by the extremists when they seized the area last summer.
In northern Jordan, AP photographer Muhammed Muheisen took portraits of pregnant Syrian refugees who are living in an informal tent settlement. Nearly 3.8 million Syrians have fled their country and are now registered as refugees, according to the U.N.
