Huge turnout in Tehran for Rafsanjani’s funeral
Print Edition
HUNDREDS of thousands mourned the late Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani yesterday, wailing in grief as his body was interred at a Tehran shrine alongside the leader of the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Rafsanjani’s final resting place near the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini reflected his legacy as one of the pillars of Iran’s clerically overseen democracy, as he served in later years as a go-between for hardliners and reformists.
Throngs filled main thoroughfares of the capital, with many chanting, beating their chests and wailing in the style of mourning common among Shiite Muslims.
The funeral for Rafsanjani, who died on Sunday at age 82 after a heart attack, drew both the elite and ordinary people. Shops and schools were closed in national mourning.
Top government and clerical officials first held a funeral service at Tehran University. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei prayed by Rafsanjani’s casket, as other dignitaries knelt before the coffin on which his white cleric’s turban was placed. Mourners reached out their hands toward the coffin.
Just behind Khamenei was President Hassan Rouhani, whose moderate administration reached the recent nuclear deal with world powers. Rouhani, who is all but certain to run for re-election in May, is viewed as embodying Rafsanjani’s realist vision.
Hardliners also took part in the ceremony, like the head of Iran’s judiciary, Sadeq Larijani, who stood near his moderate brother, parliament speaker Ali Larijani.
Also among them was Qassem Soleimani, a general who heads the Revolutionary Guard’s elite Quds Force, which focuses on foreign operations like the war in Syria.
Both Soleimani and Rafsanjani are from Iran’s southeastern province of Kerman and worked together during the war with Iraq in the 1980s.
“In my opinion, Mr Hashemi remained the same person from the beginning until the end and held his line in all stages of his life,” Soleimani told state television in a rare public interview. “Nevertheless, Mr Hashemi sometimes used different tactics.”
Outside, mourners carried posters bearing Rafsanjani’s image as his casket slowly made his way through the crowds in the streets. “I rarely attend religious ceremonies, but I am here as an Iranian who cannot forget Rafsanjani’s contribution to developing the political sphere in favor of people in recent years,” said Nima Sheikhi, a computer teacher at a private school.
Officials put the number of participants in the funeral at over 2 million.
Rafsanjani served as president from 1989 to 1997. He helped launch Iran’s nuclear program and then pushed for reconciliation with the West.
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