Leader extols deceased cleric for revolutionary track record

“This great and pious man appeared always and everywhere in the position of a religious scholar and an honest politician and a candid revolutionary,” Ayatollah Khamenei said in a message of condolences following Ayatollah Mahdavi Kani’s demise on Tuesday.

The Leader said Ayatollah Kani was an influential figure in the Islamic Republic and a true companion of the late founder of the Islamic Republic, Imam Khomeini.

Ayatollah Khamenei said Ayatollah Mahdavi Kani played his role “bravely” during the years following the 1979 Islamic Revolution and spared no efforts in defending the revolution and the Islamic establishment.

Meanwhile, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani also offered his condolences on the demise of Mahdavi Kani and declared two days of national mourning on the sad occasion.

In his message, the president said the Islamic establishment has witnessed the influential and brave role of Mahdavi Kani at sensitive junctures.

Ayatollah Mahdavi Kani, 83, passed away in Tehran on Tuesday after he fell into a coma on June 4 due to a major heart attack.

The 83-year-old veteran politician was elected chairman of the Assembly of Experts in March 2011. The high-ranking body of experts elects and oversees the activities of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution.

The senior Iranian official was also a founder and the leader of the Combatant Clergy Association, a prominent religious, cultural and political foundation formed with the objective of protecting the achievements of Iran’s Islamic Revolution.