TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran's state TV is reporting that Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, head of the Expediency Council advisory body to the country's Supreme Leader, has died at the age of 70. </s> TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran's state TV is reporting that Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, head of the Expediency Council advisory body to the country's Supreme Leader, has died at the age of 70.

The Monday report said Shahroudi was long sick and hospitalized in north Tehran. Reportedly, he was suffering from gastrointestinal cancer.

Shahroudi, a relatively moderate cleric, was appointed as chairman of the Expediency Council in 2017 by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The body arbitrates on differences between parliament and the Guardian Council, a constitutional watchdog.

Shahroudi was also chief of the judiciary from 1999 to 2009.

Born and raised in Najaf, Iraq, Sharoudi was close to the late leader of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomenei, who spent years in exile there. </s> The Western Journal has not reviewed this Associated Press story prior to publication. Therefore, it may contain editorial bias or may in some other way not meet our normal editorial standards. It is provided to our readers as a service from The Western Journal.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s state TV is reporting that Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, head of the Expediency Council advisory body to the country’s Supreme Leader, has died at the age of 70.

The Monday report said Shahroudi was long sick and hospitalized in north Tehran. Reportedly, he was suffering from gastrointestinal cancer.

Shahroudi, a relatively moderate cleric, was appointed as chairman of the Expediency Council in 2017 by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The body arbitrates on differences between parliament and the Guardian Council, a constitutional watchdog.

Shahroudi was also chief of the judiciary from 1999 to 2009.

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Born and raised in Najaf, Iraq, Sharoudi was close to the late leader of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomenei, who spent years in exile there.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards. </s> LONDON (Reuters) – Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, a senior Iranian cleric and a former chief justice, died in Tehran on Monday after a long illness, state media reported.

Shahroudi, 70, was a close ally of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and had been seen by analysts as a possible successor to him.

He cut short a visit to Germany for treatment in January when activists referred him to German prosecutors, citing his record of passing death sentences which they said amounted to a crime against humanity.

Shahroudi was head of Iran’s hardline judiciary for a decade until 2009, but he implemented some reforms including banning death penalty by stoning, arguing it was tarnishing Iran’s image.

However, human rights groups say he failed to put an end to arbitrary arrests of political and human rights activists, and mistreatment and torture of the prisoners. Dozens of newspapers were banned under his watch and many journalists and bloggers faced long term sentences.

Shahroudi was appointed by Khamenei in 2017 as the head of the Expediency Council, a body intended to resolve disputes between parliament and a watchdog body, the Guardian Council.

He was born in the city of Najaf in Iraq to Iranian parents. In the 1970s he was jailed and tortured by Saddam Hussein’s security forces because of his political activities.

He moved to Iran after the Islamic revolution in 1979 and was promoted to top posts. In recent years, Shahroudi aimed to raise his profile in Iraq as a replacement for Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the top Shi’ite cleric and a powerful figure in Iraq.

(Reporting by Bozorgmehr Sharafedin; Editing by Richard Balmforth) </s> According to the news website of Iranian government ‘dolat.ir’, Wednesday Dec. 26 will be a national day of mourning throughout Iran as a mark of respect for the late Chairman of the Expediency Council Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, who passed away last night after a long-standing struggle with cancer.

In a message issued on Tuesday, the Iranian government offered condolences on the demise of Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi to the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Khamenei, the senior clergymen, seminaries, the honorable nation of Islamic Iran, and the family of the deceased cleric, and declared Wednesday as a national day of mourning. </s> Shahroudi died at 22:03 in Tehran’s Khatsm al-Anbia hospital on Monday, December 24, 2018.

He is going to be buried at the holy shrine of Hazrat Massoumeh in Qom.

Known as a candidate for the position of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Shahroudi was a very prominent figure in Iran’s politics. </s> Rafsanjani, who served two terms as Iran's president from 1989 to 1997, continued to be an influential figure in Iranian politics.

At the time of his death he was the chairman of the Expediency Council, which aims to settle disputes between the country's parliament and the Guardian Council.

Rafsanjani was seen as a key figure in Iran's moderate movement and was a vocal supporter of current Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. </s> Story highlights Rafsanjani died Sunday at the age of 82

He will be buried in Khomeini's crypt

Tehran (CNN) Hundreds of thousands of Iranians gathered in and around Tehran University Tuesday for the funeral of former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.

State television showed crowds pouring onto the streets around the campus where the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, led prayers for Rafsanjani despite the differences between the two men.

President Hassan Rouhani, parliament speaker Ali Larijani and his brother, judiciary chief Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani, joined the prayers.

Rafsanjani died Sunday at the age of 82 after suffering a heart attack.

Three days of official mourning began on Monday.

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Read More </s> Former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani died on Sunday aged 82 after suffering a heart attack, according to state media.

Rafsanjani was a key figure in the foundation of the Islamic republic in 1979, and served as president from 1989 to 1997.

He was taken to the Shohada hospital, in northern Tehran, earlier on Sunday with heart problems, the ISNA and Fars news agencies reported.

"Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani was transferred to hospital after a heart attack," said Reza Soleimani, a speaker of the Expediency Council, Iran's main political arbitration body which Rafsanjani chaired.

"Despite the efforts of the doctors he died," he said, quoted by state broadcaster IRIB.

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Al Jazeera's Dorsa Jabbari, reporting from Tehran, said Rafsanjani's death was described as a "huge loss" by Iranian officials.

"His death couldn't come at a worse time for the country because there are disputes between the current government and the judiciary and Rafsanjani was seen as a mediator," she said.

"He would advise on how to deal with such situations in the country. With the news of his death many people are in absolute shock."

Following the announcement of Rafsanjani's death, a crowd gathered outside the hospital in Tehran's Tajrish neighbourhood where the former president had been taken.

'Difficult and overwhelming'

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 the founder of the Islamic republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

A confidant of Khomeini, Rafsanjani was the speaker of parliament for two consecutive terms until Khomeini's death in 1989.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, paid tribute to Rafsanjani as a "companion of struggle" despite differences between them.

"The loss of my companion of struggle, whose cooperation with me dated back 59 years, is difficult and overwhelming," Khamenei said in a statement quoted by the state broadcaster's website.

"The different opinions and interpretations at time in this long period could never entirely break up the friendship" between us, he added.

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Rafsanjani was an influential figure in Iran, and headed the Expediency Council, a body which is intended to resolve disputes between the parliament and the Guardian Council.

He was also a member of the Assembly of Experts, the clerical body that selects the supreme leader, Iran's most powerful figure.

Rafsanjani has been described as "a pillar of the Islamic revolution".

His pragmatic policies, economic liberalisation, better relations with the West and empowering Iran's elected bodies, appealed to many Iranians but was despised by hardliners.

His death is a big blow to moderates and reformists, depriving them of their most influential supporter in the Islamic establishment.

He is survived by his wife and five children.
Chairman of Iran's Expediency Discernment Council and former Chief Justice Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi dies at the age of 70.