IRNA - Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani in a message expressed condolences on the demise of the late Chairman of the Expediency Council Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani who passed away at 82 on Sunday.


In his message addressed to the late Ayatollah Rafsanjani's brother Mohammad Hashemi Rafsanjani, Ayatollah Sistani condoled his family members on the sad occasion.

Meanwhile other religious leaders of Najaf including Ayatollah Bashir al-Najafi as well as Friday Prayers Leader of Najaf Sadruddin Ghapanchi and many other clerics of the Iraqi holy city issued condolences on the sad occasion.

Ayatollah Rafsanjani died on January 8 (Sunday) at the age of 82 due to a heart attack in a Tehran hospital.

He was a close ally to the Father of the Islamic Revolution the late Imam Khomeini and also the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei. Rafsanjani was a veteran cleric, a pillar of the Islamic Revolution and an influential politician, who served in different positions in the post-1979 Islamic Revolution era.

In his message on the demise of the late ayatollah, the Supreme Leader of the Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei described him as 'an old friend, a comrade and companion during the struggles of the Islamic movement, who was also a close colleague in the Islamic Republic of Iran over the last several years.'