Hashemi Rafsanjani Funeral

Former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani was one of the first and most famous members of the inner circle of the late Ayatollah Khomeini, who toppled Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in the Islamic Revolution of 1979. Over the past four decades, he had come to be known as an emblem of the founding fathers of the Islamic Republic.

The cause of Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani’s death a year ago is proving to be as difficult to explain as his storied political career. On Jan. 7, Yasser Hashemi, one of Rafsanjani’s sons, said President Hassan Rouhani had rejected the findings of the Supreme National Security Council regarding the cause of Rafsanjani’s death and ordered the council to reopen the investigation.

On Dec. 16, one of Rafsanjani’s daughters, Faezeh Hashemi, told an Iranian newspaper that the council had told her that Rafsanjani’s body had 10 times the permissible radioactivity.