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The lives, business interests, and influential connections of the late president’s five children
The late statesman Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani was both a founder and a victim of the kleptocratic system at the heart of the Islamic Republic. A shrewd strategist who was at once a man of the people and a ruthless elitist, his presidency, from 1989 to 1997, saw the rise of the clannish power networks and corrupt institutions that continue to paralyze Iran’s economy.
Rafsanjani unabashedly appointed his close relatives to various positions of power, helped them secure prestigious jobs, and sent them abroad to study; Rafsanjani himself never traveled abroad without several members of his family in tow. He doled out public funds to whomever he pleased: regime officials, his own family members, and the families of known terrorists.
Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and his wife of almost six decades, Efat Marashi, had five children: Fatemeh (now 60), Mohsen (59), Faezeh (58), Mehdi (51), and Yaser (50). Tehran Bureau takes a look at their lives, their business interests, and their web of influential connections that extend across the Islamic Republic of Iran.
This post is also available in: فارسی (Persian)