Ayatollah Rafsanjani Passes Away

Chairman of the Expediency Council Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has passed away at the age of 82 due to heart condition.

Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani was born on 25 August 1934 in Bahraman, a village near Rafsanjan in south-east Iran.

He joined the religious school of his village at the age of five. Afterwards, he moved to Qom to continue his religious studies and in 1959, he and his friends launched a publication called School of Shiism.  As a political activist he was opposed to the Pahlavi monarchy. In 1978, with his associates, he formed the nucleus of what is now known as the Rohaniat-e Mobares (The Society of the Combatant Clergy). Ayatollah Rafsanjani is one of the highest-level authorities in Iran and has served in several different positions since the Islamic Revolution. He acted as temporary Minster of the Interior, the Tehran Friday Prayers Leader, the head of military forces in the war with Iraq, Imam Khomeini’s (ra) representative in high defending council, the Parliamentary spokesman for eight years, and as the President of I.R. Iran from 1989 to 1997. He also lead the Expediency Council and is simultaneously deputy of the Experts’ Council.

His Responsibilities

4th President of Iran from 3 August 1989 – 3 August 1997

Chairman of Expediency Discernment Council from 6 February 1989 – 8 January 2017

Chairman of the Assembly of Experts from 25 July 2007 – 8 March 2011

Chairman of the Parliament from 28 July 1980 – 3 August 1989

Member of the Assembly of Experts from 15 August 1983 – 8 January 2017

Tehran’s Friday Prayer Interim Imam from 3 July 1981 – 17 July 2009

Member of the Parliament of Iran from 28 May 1980 – 3 August 1989

Minister of Interior from 6 November 1979 – 12 August 1980