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Article: IRAN - July 30 - Death Of Theologian Opens Way For Rafsanjani.(Ali Akbar Meshkini, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani)
- Article from:
- APS Diplomat Recorder
- Article date:
- August 4, 2007
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Ayat Ali Akbar Meshkini, chairman of Iran's powerful Assembly of Experts, dies, leaving the way open for his replacement by the influential former president, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. The 86-year-old Ayat, who had been suffering from lung problems, was a conservative who had led Friday prayers in the holy city of Qom. Rafsanjani, a pragmatist critic of Iran's rightward drift under President Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad, is already vice-chairman of the assembly, a directly elected body of theologians responsible for choosing and monitoring the supreme leader, Iran's highest office. "The assembly meets infrequently - so for the time being, Rafsanjani will run it", Muhammad Ali ...