bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Agence France-Presse

Former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a pugnacious moderate who survived for decades despite challenging his own turbaned elite, died on Sunday after suffering a heart attack.
Rafsanjani, who was 82, was a pivotal figure in the foundation of the Islamic republic in 1979, and served as president from 1989 to 1997.
“Despite the efforts of the doctors he died” at Shohadaa Hospital in northern Tehran, said Reza Soleimani, a speaker of the Expediency Council, Iran’s main political arbitration body which Rafsanjani chaired.
The government announced three days’ of mourning, making Tuesday a public holiday for his burial, according to the official IRNA news agency.
Heartfelt tributes poured in from Iran’s leadership, including the all-powerful Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, despite the differences between the two.

“The loss of my companion of struggle, whose cooperation with me dated back 59 years, is difficult and overwhelming,” the supreme leader said in a statement.
“The different opinions and interpretations at times in this long period could never entirely break up the friendship” between us, Khamenei added.
President Hassan Rouhani, who was reportedly at Rafsanjani’s bedside in the hospital, also expressed his grief in a tweet.
“The soul of the great man of the revolution and politics, the symbol of resistance and perseverence, ascended to heaven,” he wrote.
Rafsanjani’s death is a huge loss for both reformists and moderates, as he stood as a pillar for the two camps.
Candidates to succeed Iran’s Supreme Leader are being considered, says ex-president
All state television channels reported on the death with black ribbons across their screens, as top officials and the public joined in an outpouring of emotion.
A crowd of people had formed outside Shohadaa Hospital, despite police warnings, blocking Tehran’s Valiasr Avenue, media reported.
Rafsanjani’s body was later transferred to Jamaran, a religious hall in northern Tehran run by the now reform-minded family of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic republic.
A sobbing Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and reformist former president Mohammad Khatami were among those seen at Jamaran in pictures posted on social media.
Rafsanjani was born on August 25, 1934 in the village of Nough in southern Iran into a wealthy family.
He studied theology in the holy city of Qom before entering politics in 1963 after the shah’s police arrested Ayatollah Khomeini.
A confidant of Khomeini, Rafsanjani was the speaker of parliament for two consecutive terms until Khomeini’s death in 1989.

Rafsanjani’s presidency, a breathing space after the end of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, was marked by reconstruction, cautious reform and repairs to Iran’s relations with its Arab neighbours.
But it was also marred by human rights violations, rampant inflation and difficult relations with Europe, not least with Britain after the “death sentence”, or fatwa, handed down to writer Salman Rushdie by Khomeini.
After serving a maximum two consecutive terms, Rafsanjani played an important role in the election of the reformist Khatami, who served as president from 1997 to 2005.
Rafsanjani sought a return to the presidency in 2005 but lost to hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a conservative backlash.
Iran begins counting votes in election that may determine balance of power between reformers and hardliners
It was a bitter defeat, but rather than retreating from public view, he remained in the limelight.
Rafsanjani emerged as a moderate counter-figure to the ultra-hardliners clustered around Ahmadinejad -- under whom Iran’s relations with the West plummeted -- and criticised the crackdown that followed Ahmadinejad’s disputed re-election in 2009.
In recent years though, his influence within state institutions had waned.
In 2013, his candidacy for the presidential election was rejected because of his advanced age.
The next year he delivered crucial support for the eventual winner, Hassan Rouhani, a moderate with whom he has a warm rapport.

He was an important backer of the deal Rouhani struck with world powers for sanctions to be lifted in exchange for curbs on Iran’s nuclear programme.
Rafsanjani was always a member of Iran’s top clerical body, the Assembly of Experts, charged with appointing -- and if required dismissing -- the country’s supreme leader.
Rafsanjani chaired the influential committee for several years.
He also held the chairmanship of the Expediency Council, since 1990, when he was appointed by Khomeini’s successor as supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei.
The supreme leader will have to appoint a new chairman for the body.


Henry Lee, forensic scientist who testified in the O.J. Simpson trial, dies at 87

Robert Mueller, who probed Trump-Russia ties, dies. US president: ‘I’m glad he’s dead’

Anthony Mason, who helped put top Hong Kong court on the map, dies at age 100

Jurgen Habermas, the philosopher who shaped Germany’s post-war conscience, dies at 96

Obituaries

Iran’s ex-President Hashemi Rafsanjani, a key reformer, dies at 82

Former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani died in hospital on January 8, 2017 after suffering a heart attack. Photo: AFP

epa05705703 Mourners gather around the coffin of former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjai, during a mourning ceremony at the Jamaran mosque in Tehran, Iran, 08 January 2017. Former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjai was taken to hospital in Tehran, Iran on 08 January 2017, and his death was announced later in the day. He died at the age of 82. EPA/ABEDIN TAHERKENAREH

FILE -- In this Aug. 4, 2013 file photo, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani., right, and former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, wave, as they arrive for Rouhani's swearing-in ceremony at the parliament, in Tehran, Iran. Iranian state media said Sunday, Jan. 8, 2017 that Rafsanjani has died at age 82 after having been hospitalized because of a heart condition. Rafsanjani, who served as president from 1989 to 1997, was a leading politician who often played kingmaker in the country's turbulent politics. He supported President Rouhani. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File)

(FILES) This file photo taken on July 17, 2009 shows Iranian influential cleric and former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani delivering his sermon during Friday prayers at Tehran University in the Iranian capital. Former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani died in hospital on January 8, 2017 after suffering a heart attack, the ISNA and Fars news agencies reported. Rafsanjani, who was 82, served as president twice and was a pivotal figure in the foundation of the Islamic republic in 1979. / AFP PHOTO / FARS NEWS / Ali Rafiei

News

World