Obituary: Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani died on January 8th
The Iranian politician was 82

IN DEATH as in life, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani defied categorisation. He was a stalwart of a regime dubbed an exporter of terror and heresy. Yet regional arch-foes such as Bahrain and Saudi Arabia mourned his passing, as did the Great Satan itself, via a State Department press briefing. At home, embattled reformists felt they had lost their prime protector.
This article appeared in the Obituary section of the print edition under the headline “Shark of Persia”
Obituary
January 14th 2017
From the January 14th 2017 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents
Explore the edition
Athol Fugard spoke truth to apartheid South Africa
South Africa’s greatest playwright of the apartheid era died on March 8th, aged 92

Stitch by stitch, Rose Girone kept her family going
The oldest known Holocaust survivor died on February 24th, aged 113

Muhsin Hendricks fought homophobia with the Koran
The world’s first openly gay imam was shot dead on February 15th, aged 57
Pableaux Johnson, peerless host and chronicler of New Orleans
The photographer, cook and food writer died on January 26th, aged 59
Donald Shoup knew how to get cities going
The parking-and-traffic expert died on February 6th, aged 86
Marianne Faithfull battled labels all her life
The singer and icon of the 1960s died on January 30th, aged 78