PO BAG 1: Rafsanjani

10 January 2017

Iranians mourn as former leader Rafsanjani interred

Faezeh Hashemi, daughter of former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who died Sunday after suffering a heart attack, flashes a victory sign to the crowd from a bus during the funeral ceremony for her father in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2017. Hundreds of thousands of mourners flooded the streets of Tehran on Tuesday, beating their chests and wailing in grief for Rafsanjani, who died over the weekend at the age of 82.

Hundreds of thousands mourned former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani on Tuesday, wailing in grief as his body was interred at a Tehran shrine alongside the leader of the country's 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Rafsanjani's final resting place near the late Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, reflected his legacy as one of the pillars of Iran's clerical-dominated political system, as he served in later years as a go-between for hard-liners and reformists.

9 January 2017

Rafsanjani, Iran leader whose life mirrored nation's, dies

In this Dec. 21, 2015 file photo, former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani waves to journalists as he registers his candidacy for the elections of the Experts Assembly, in Tehran, Iran. Iranian media said Sunday, Jan. 8, 2017, that Rafsanjani, who served as president from 1989 to 1997, has been hospitalized because of a heart condition. The official IRNA news agency reported that Rafsanjani was taken to a public hospital north of the capital, Tehran.

Iran's former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani died Sunday after a decades-long career in the ruling elite, where his moderate views were not always welcome but his cunning guided him through revolution, war and the country's turbulent politics.

The political survivor's life spanned the trials of Iran's modern history, from serving as a close aide to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini during the 1979 Islamic Revolution to acting as a go-between in the Iran-Contra deal. He helped found Iran's contested nuclear program, but later backed the accord with world powers to limit it in exchange for sanctions relief.