Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who was the founding leader of the D-8 Organization for Economic Cooperation, has passed away on 08 January 2017 at the age of 82 in a Tehran hospital. 

Rafsanjani who served as President of the Islamic Republic of Iran from 1989 to 1997, was a towering personality not only within the polity of Islamic Republic of Iran but also in the global community. 

Dr. Seyed AliMohammad Mousavi, D-8 Secretary General, expressed deep condolences at the demise of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and wrote to the Foreign Minister of Iran, ‘We join the people of Islamic Republic of Iran in mourning the loss of a great man who was an ardent advocate of peace and brotherhood.’