The body of Iran's two-time president and former parliament speaker Ayatollah Rafsanjani was laid to rest at Imam Khomeini shrinein southern Tehran.
Thousands of Iranian people, and senior government officials poured into the streets of the capital Tehran on Tuesday bidding their last farewells to the late veteran politician. President Hassan Rouhani and other senior officials were among those attending funeral prayers at the Tehran University campus.
Before the mourning procession, Leader of Iran’s Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, led funeral prayers in the University of Tehran. Thousands of mourners gathered in Tehran to pay their last respects to the former president on Tuesday.
Ayatollah Rafsanjani passed away following a heart attack on Sunday.
He had been a close adviser and confidant of Imam Khomeini, the late founder of the Islamic Revolution. Ayatollah Rasfanjani played an influential role both during the anti-Shah struggles before the victory of the 1979 Islamic Revolution and afterwards through various stages of the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Ayatollah Rafsanjani became Iran’s first Speaker of Parliament after the Revolution, serving until 1989.Then Rafsanjani was elected president, in which position he functioned until 1997.
The senior cleric was also the chairman of the Expediency Council, a position he kept until his departure.
Rafsanjani was an influential politician and religious scholar who also left several theological works, including a comprehensive commentary of holy Quran.