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Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani (Persian: اکبر هاشمی رفسنجانی, Akbar Hāshemī Rafsanjānī, Hashemi Bahramani هاشمی بهرمانی, born 25 August 1934) is an influential Iranian politician and writer, who was the fourth president of Iran. He was a member of the Assembly of Experts until his resignation in 2011.[2] Currently, he is chairman of the Expediency Discernment Council of Iran.
During the Iran–Iraq War Rafsanjani was the de facto commander-in-chief of the Iranian military.
Rafsanjani was elected chairman of the Iranian parliament in 1980 and served until 1989. Rafsanjani also served as president of Iran from 1989 to 1997. In 2005 he ran for a third term in office, placing first in the first round of elections but ultimately losing to rival Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the run-off round of the 2005 election.
Rafsanjani has been described as a centrist and a pragmatic conservative. He supports a free market position domestically, favoring privatization of state-owned industries, and a moderate position internationally, seeking to avoid conflict with the United States and the West.[3]
He is considered to be the richest person in Iran.[4]
Foreign policy
Following years of deterioration in foreign relations under Khomeini during the Iran-Iraq war, Rafsanjani sought to rebuild ties with Arab states[19] as well as with countries in Central Asia, including Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan.[20] However, relations with European countries and the United States remained poor, even though Rafsanjani had a track record of handling difficult situations and defusing crises.[21]
He condemned both the United States and Iraq during the Persian Gulf War in 1991. After the war he strove to renew close ties with the West, although he refused to lift Khomeini's fatwa against the British author Salman Rushdie.[22]
Rafsanjani has said that Iran is ready to assist Iraq, "expecting nothing in return". On the other hand, he has said that "peace and stability" is a function of the "evacuation of the occupiers."[23]
Iran gave humanitarian help to the victims of the conflict. Iran sent truckloads of food and medicine to Iraq, and thousands of Kuwaiti refugees were given shelter in Iran.[24]
Rafsanjani voiced support to Prince Abdullah's peace initiative and to "everything the Palestinians agree to". He also stated that what he called "Iran's international interests" must take precedence over those of Iranian allies in Syria and Lebanon.[21]
Rafsanjani is a supporter of Iran's nuclear program. In 2007 Rafsanjani reiterated that the use of weapons of mass destruction was not part of the Islamic Republic culture. Rafsanjani said: "You [US and allies] are saying that you cannot trust Iran would not use its nuclear achievements in the military industries, but we are ready to give you full assurances in this respect."[25]
After presidency
Post-presidency, Rafsanjani delivered a sermon at Tehran University in the summer of 1999 praising government use of force to suppress student demonstrations.[18]
In 2000, in the first election after the end of his presidency, Rafsanjani ran again for Parliament. In the Tehran contest, Rafsanjani came in 30th, or last, place. At first he was not among the 30 representatives of Tehran elected, as announced by the Iranian Ministry of the Interior, but the Council of Guardians then ruled numerous ballots void, leading to accusations of ballot fraud in Rafsanjani's favor.[18] Rafsanjani thus became a Majlis representative, but resigned before being sworn in. He explained that he felt he was "able to serve the people better in other posts".[citation needed]
Rafsanjani is the current Chairman of the Expediency Discernment Council, that resolves legislative issues between the Majlis and the Council of Guardians.[citation needed]
In December 2006, Rafsanjani was elected to the Assembly of Experts representing Tehran with more than 1.5 million votes, which was more than any other candidate. Ahmadinejad opponents won majority of local election seats. On September 4, 2007 he was elected Chairman of the Assembly of Experts, the body that selects Iran's supreme leader, in what was considered a blow to the supporters of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He was running against Ahmad Jannati. Rafsanjani was re-elected to the position on March 10, 2009, running against Mohammad Yazdi. He received 51 votes compared to Yazdi's 26.[26][27] On 8 March 2011 he withdrew from the election. Ayatollah Mohammad Reza Mahdavi Kani is the new Chairman.[28]
Rafsanjani is currently sought by the Argentinian government for ordering the 1994 AMIA bombing in Buenos Aires.[29]
In more recent years, Rafsanjani has advocated freedom of expression, tolerance and civil society. In a speech on July 17, 2009, Rafsanjani criticized restriction of media and suppression of activists, and put emphasis on the role and vote of people in the Islamic Republic constitution.[30][31][32] The event has been considered by analysts as the most important and most turbulent Friday prayer in the history of contemporary Iran.[33] Nearly 1.5-2.5 million people attended the speech in Tehran.[34]
Political parties
Although Rafsanjani has been a member of the pragmatic-conservative Combatant Clergy Association, he has a close bond to the reformist Kargozaran party. He has been seen as flip-flopping between conservative and reformist camps since the election of Mohammad Khatami, supporting reformers in that election, but going back to the conservative camp in the 2000 parliamentary elections as a result of the reformist party severely criticizing and refusing to accept him as their candidate. Reformists, including Akbar Ganji, accused him of involvement in murdering dissidents and writers during his presidency. In the end, the major differences between the Kargozaran and the reformists party weakened both and eventually resulted in their loss at the presidential elections in 2005. However, Rafsanjani has regained close ties with the reformers since he lost the 2005 presidential elections to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.[12]
After his loss at the presidential elections in 2005, a growing tension between him and President Ahmadinejad arose. Rafsanjani has criticized Ahmadinejad's administration several times for conducting a purge of government officials,[35] slow move towards privatization[36] and recently hostile foreign policy in particular the atomic energy policy.[37][38] In return Ahmadinejad has fought back that Rafsanjani failed to differentiate privatization with the corrupt takeover of government-owned companies and of foreign policies which led to sanctions against Iran in 1995 and 1996.[39][40] He also implicitly denounced Rafsanjani and his followers by calling those who criticize his nuclear program as "traitors".[41]
Crisis following 2009 election
2009 election protests
During the 2009 Presidential election, Rafsanjani's former rival and incumbent president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, won a (disputed) landslide victory over challenger Mir-Hossein Mousavi. His daughter was arrested on June 21 by plain clothes Basij during the subsequent protest[42] and later sentenced to six months in jail on charges of spreading propaganda against the Islamic Republic.[43]
Rafsanjani was chairman of the Assembly of Experts, which is responsible for appointing or removing the Supreme Leader, who has been rumored to not be in the best of health.[44] After the disputed results of the election were certified by the Supreme Leader, Rafsanjani was reported to have called a meeting of the Assembly of Experts, but it is unknown what the outcome or disposition of this meeting actually was.[45] During this time Rafsanjani relocated from Tehran to Qom, where the country's religious leaders sit. However, for the most part, Rafsanjani was silent about the controversial June 12 election and its aftermath.[46]
On July 17, 2009, Rafsanjani publicly addressed the election crisis, mass arrests and the issue of freedom of expression during Friday prayers. The prayers witnessed an extremely large crowd that resembled the Friday prayers early after the revolution. Supporters of both reformist and conservative parties took part in the event. During prayers, Rafsanjani argued the following:[47]
All of us the establishment, the security forces, police, parliament and even protestors should move within the framework of law... We should open the doors to debates. We should not keep so many people in prison. We should free them to take care of their families... It is impossible to restore public confidence overnight, but we have to let everyone speak out... We should have logical and brotherly discussions and our people will make their judgments.... We should let our media write within the framework of the law and we should not impose restrictions on them... We should let our media even criticize us. Our security forces, our police and other organs have to guarantee such a climate for criticism.[48]
Assembly of Experts election
On 8 March 2011 Rafsanjani lost his post as chairman of the powerful Assembly of Experts, replaced by Ayatollah Mohammad-Reza Mahdavi Kani. Rafsanjani stated that he withdrew from the election for head to "avoid division." The loss was said to be the result of intensive lobbying "in recent weeks" by "hardliners and supporters" of president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and part of Rafsanjani's gradual loss of power over the years.[49] It was said that Rafsanjani will be dismissed as head of Expediency Discernment Council but he was re-appointed for another five years term on 14 March 2012 by Ali Khamenei.
Books
Hashemi has a series of books titled "collection of daily memos". However, part of his diary is not published due to security reasons.[50] [51] Based on his diary, viewpoints, speeches and interviews, several independent books have been published so far.[52] In addition, the full text of his Friday Prayer sermons and his congress keynote speeches are also published separately.[53]
"The Combat Era" is the title of his book on the events before the 1979 revolution. His devotion to Rouhollah Khomeini, his sympathy with the national movement including Mohammad Mosaddegh and Mahdi Bazargan is seen in this book. In this book, he even shows interest in western democracy.[54]
"Amir Kabir: the Hero of Fighting against Imperialism" is another book by Hashemi that was published before revolution in 1968.[55]
An exegesis on Quran, titled Tafsir Rahnama -which is a commentation of Quran by subject- is also another book by Hashemi. The book is based on his notes in jail during the Pahlavi era.[56]
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