Rafsanjani at 82, died after a heart attack, shortly after being transferred to a hospital.
Rafsanjani was one of the main pillars of the clerical regime in Iran and was considered the closest aide to Khomeini since coming to power, and as such he was involved in all the crimes of Khomeini.
During the Iran-Iraq war, Rafsanjani, was Khomeini’s de facto deputy and later appointed as commander in chief of the armed forces in the war.
He was responsible in killing of hundreds of thousands of Iranian citizens and dispatching children and young students to mine fields during the war.
Rafsanjani advocated the executions in the 80s
After the start of extensive executions in 1981, Rafsanjani repeatedly and formally defended the brutal killings, including once on October 2, 1981, which he stated: “According to God’s commandments 4 sentences to MEK members is binding: 1.to be killed, 2 to be hanged, 3. their hands and feet should be amputated 4. To be separated from the society … “and then said:” if that day (meant the beginning of the revolution) we had executed 200 of them today they were not grown so much. If today we do not firmly stand against these hypocrite groups and agents of America and the Soviet Union, in three years instead of 1,000 people we will have to execute several thousand “(Etelaat daily newspaper October 2, 1981).
Rafsanjani was in charge of the regime’s parliament at the time of Khomeini. Rafsanjani’s greatest crimes in this role was participation in the massacre of thirty thousands of political prisoners in 1988, in which he together with Khamenei and Ahmad Khomeini, conveyed Khomeini’s decree to ‘ Death Committee’.
Rafsanjani was a strong supporter of ‘Lajevardi’ the criminal chief of notorious Evin prison who was called ‘the butcher of Evin’ during 1980s, and in this regard always defended Lajevardi against continuous protests of Mr. Montazeri (Khomeini’s then- heir). In fact Rafsanjani played a pivotal role in dismissal and house arrest of Montazeri later on.
After Khomeini’s death, Rafsanjani had a leading role in the introduction of Khamenei as Supreme Leader and hold the presidency position for 8 years. But Rafsanjani and Khamenei’s unity did not last long and transformed to a never-ending conflict and power struggle between the two.
Rafsanjani, was a member of leadership council since the beginning and took over the leadership of this council after the death of Mullah Meshkini on 2007 to lose it on 2011 in his power struggle with Khamenei.
Rafsanjani never abided the absolute rule of Khamenei and in different occasions had stated that Khamenei was not eligible and didn’t have the necessary qualifications to be the supreme leader and this was the core issue in their animosity towards each other.
After the consequences of power struggle in 2009 which resulted to a failed uprising, Khamenei and his band, directly and indirectly categorized Rafsanjani as the ‘head of the sedition,’ and attacked him.
During the so called presidential election on 2013, Khamenei, managed to disqualify Rafsanjani through his stooge Guardian Council and prevented his candidacy, but inevitably and in fear of another uprising accepted the presidency of Hassan Rouhani, who was regarded a disciple of Rafsanjani.
During recent years Rafsanjani was appeared again as the spiritual godfather of Rouhani and the number two authority in the regime, and was established in his role as the head of the expediency Council.
Rafsanjani had a key role in all the assassinations abroad, before and after Khomeini’s death and therefore was condemned by German courts for Mykonos crime and was wanted by the international police and Argentina judiciary for the Buenos Aires bombing which resulted to death of 86 people.
With the death of Rafsanjani, the regime’s moderation show came to an end and international appeasers lost one of their most favorite celebrities. Rafsanjani’s history on this issue goes back to 1986 secret arm deals between US, Israel and Iran when Khomeini was still alive.
Rafsanjani’s death on the verge of upcoming presidential election, is considered an important blow to Rouhani and leaves him vulnerable to attacks from rival factions.
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