IRNA � Majlis (parliament) Speaker Ali Larijani in a message on the occasion of death of late Chairman of the Expediency Council Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani on Sunday extended his condolences.


'A great man closed his eyes to this world; a valuable clergyman who relentlessly worked for breaking the face of hypocrisy,' Larijani said in his message.

He went on to say that Rafsanjani was a great man who effortlessly fought the colonial powers and global arrogance to defend the country's independence and territorial integrity.

Ayatollah Rafsanjani died on Sunday at the age of 82 due to a heart attack in a Tehran hospital.

Rafsanjani, a veteran cleric, a pillar of the Islamic Revolution and a leading politician, served in different positions in the post-1979 Islamic Revolution era.