Senior Iranian Cleric Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi Passes Away

By Staff, Agencies

Prominent Iranian cleric Ayatollah Mohammad-Taqi Mesbah Yazdi, a member of the Assembly of Experts, has passed away at a hospital in Tehran.

Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi died on Friday evening at the age of 85 due to gastrointestinal disease, according to the semi-official ISNA news agency.

He had been hospitalized since Saturday after his condition deteriorated. 

Ayatollah Yazdi played a major part in the Islamic Revolution — led by late founder of the Islamic Republic Imam Khomeini — that overthrew the US-backed Pahlavi regime in 1979.

Following the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi first founded Baqir-ul-Uloom Institute and then Imam Khomeini Education and Research Institute in the city of Qom, which he headed for the rest of his life.

The cleric, a philosopher and political theorist, was a member of the Society of Seminary Teachers of Qom.

He also served as a member of the Assembly of Experts — the body responsible for electing and monitoring the performance of the Leader — and the Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution.

The cleric was first hospitalized at home on December 4 in the city of Qom, but following the progression of his clinical symptoms, he was transferred to Tehran for further treatment. He died in hospital six days later.