Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani; A Key Player in the Islamic Republic

Akbar Hashemi Bahramani, known as "Rafsanjani," a significant and key figure in the Islamic Republic of Iran, passed away at the age of 82 at Shahid Tajrish Hospital in Tehran. Mr. Rafsanjani was born in 1934 in the village of Noug from the Rafsanjan district in Kerman province. He was considered one of the pillars of the Islamic Republic and held key positions such as the presidency of the Expediency Discernment Council, the presidency of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, the presidency of the Republic, and the presidency of the Assembly of Experts. Mr. Hashemi was the first Speaker of the Islamic Consultative Assembly and the fourth President of Iran, serving two consecutive terms from 1989 to 1997. He also participated in all terms of the Assembly of Experts. However, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani's role was not limited to official positions after the establishment of the Islamic Republic. He was one of the main figures in the formation of the Islamic Republic, starting his activist activities against the monarchy. He studied in the Qom seminary under clerics such as Ayatollah Borujerdi, Khomeini, Mohaghegh Damad, Golpaygani, Shariati, Haeri Yazdi, Najafi Marashi, Mohammad-Hossein Tabatabai, Zahedi, and Montazeri, and joined the struggles of Ayatollah Khomeini from this location. He was also a financial supporter of Khomeini's followers' actions against the Pahlavi regime due to his business activities. Mr. Hashemi had a close friendship with Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the current leader of the Islamic Republic, during that time. He married Efat Marashi in 1958, and they had two daughters named Fatemeh and Faezah and three sons named Mohsen, Mehdi, and Yasser. Mr. Hashemi Rafsanjani was imprisoned several times until the victory of the Islamic Revolution and experienced SAVAK torture during his imprisonment. On the brink of the revolution's victory, Hashemi Rafsanjani, along with Mehdi Bazargan, Ibrahim Yazdi, Ezzatollah Sahabi, Mir-Hossein Mousavi, Abolhassan Banisadr, Sadegh Khotbzadeh, Mahmoud Taleghani, Yadollah Sahabi, Mohammad Beheshti, Morteza Motahhari, Habibollah Peyman, Ahmad Sadr Haj Seyed Javadi, Mohammad-Reza Mahdavi Kani, Abdul Karim Mousavi Ardebili, Mohammad-Javad Bahonar, and Hassan Habibi, was part of the core group that formed the Supreme Revolutionary Council and remained an effective member until the dissolution of this council in 1980. During his career, he was also a founder of the "Combatant Clergy Association" and the "Islamic Republic Party," two powerful pillars of the ruling system in the Islamic Republic. He was also the representative of the founder of the Islamic Republic in the Supreme Defense Council during the Iraq war and the deputy commander-in-chief in 1988, meaning that all military forces operated under his supervision. Shortly after this appointment, he, with the approval of Ayatollah Khomeini, accepted Resolution 598, which led to the end of the Iran-Iraq war. However, one of the most significant political roles of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani in the history of the Islamic Revolution was his decisive influence in persuading the members of the Assembly of Experts to elect Ali Khamenei as the successor to Ayatollah Khomeini in June 1989. After Ayatollah Khamenei came to power as the leader of the Islamic Republic, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani was also elected president and moved from the Islamic Consultative Assembly to the presidency. His presidency coincided with a critical economic situation following the eight-year Iran-Iraq war. Therefore, he prioritized solving these issues as the main agenda of his government and earned the title "Sardar-e Sazandegi" (Commander of Reconstruction) from his supporters. However, during his second term as president in 1996, his power and position gradually weakened against Ayatollah Khamenei, and his reformist policies were halted. Additionally, the closed cultural and social atmosphere and the lack of public freedoms led to dissatisfaction among intellectuals, writers, and youth. Some activists and political figures or writers have criticized him as someone who was suppressed or targeted by security and intelligence forces during his presidency. The name Ali Fallahian, the Minister of Intelligence during his presidency, has also been mentioned in the context of serial murders or the assassination case in the Mykonos restaurant in Berlin. Furthermore, Argentine prosecutors included his name alongside other suspects in the case of the bombing of a Jewish center in Buenos Aires in 1994. In such an atmosphere, his presidency came to an end, and Mohammad Khatami succeeded him. However, the end of his presidency marked the beginning of his presidency over the Expediency Discernment Council, a position he maintained until his death despite the limitations imposed on him. Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, although faced with significant criticism from a group of reformists and intellectuals, to the extent that they did not include him on the list of reformists for the sixth parliamentary elections; and despite many considering him complicit in the government's behavior towards opponents and political critics, gradually distanced himself from Ayatollah Khamenei and his close faction over the years. These disagreements weakened his political position in the central power in recent years. Hashemi Rafsanjani also participated in the 2005 presidential elections, where he lost in a controversial second round to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. After that, he consistently criticized Ahmadinejad's government policies and actions. The 2009 presidential election marked the peak of these disagreements, where Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani supported Mir-Hossein Mousavi. Beyond that, he expressed doubts about the election results and criticized the treatment of protesters several times. In a controversial speech on July 17, 2009, he stated that the trust of the people in the Islamic Republic must be restored and that the victims of recent events should be comforted. He remarked that the election started well, and everything was ready for a great honor for Iran, but it did not happen. Following these sermons, he, who had been the Friday prayer leader of the capital since 1981, was deprived of leading Friday prayers in Tehran. His political position changed after this election. In these years, he lost the presidency of the Assembly of Experts. Also, in an unprecedented move, his qualifications for the 2013 presidential election were rejected. However, his social base was restored. In several recent elections, he managed to create a consensus among reformists and moderates alongside Mohammad Khatami and supported Hassan Rouhani. Hashemi Rafsanjani's positions in the post-election period faced unprecedented attacks from Khamenei's close associates. Even his two children, Faezah and Mehdi Hashemi, were imprisoned on various charges, including involvement in "post-election unrest." Despite all these limitations, he continued to play a political role. In May 2016, at the unveiling ceremony of his autobiography, he stated: "Now I can die comfortably because the people make their own decisions, and at this near end of life, when they had closed the path of the revolution, I opened it." The funeral and burial ceremony for Mr. Hashemi Rafsanjani is scheduled to be held on Wednesday, January 10, and his family has stated that he will be buried in Qom.