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International

Former Iranian President Rafsanjani dies in hospital

20:55, Sunday, 08 January, 2017
Former Iranian President Rafsanjani dies in hospital

Influential Iranian politician and writer, former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has died in a hospital near Tehran. He was head of the Expediency Council, a body that advises Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani died Sunday in Tehran at the age of 82, Iranian state media has reported.

The influential former leader had been admitted to hospital earlier in the day after suffering a heart attack.

Rafsanjani, who served as president from 1989 to 1997, played a pivotal role in the Islamic Revolution that ousted the shah and established a religious republic in 1979.

The cleric also headed the Expediency Council, the body that advises Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. In March, Rafsanjani won a seat on the clerical body that will eventually decide Khamenei's successor.

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