Ayatollah Tavassoli headed the office of Imam Khomeini during the latter's years as Supreme Leader. He also served on the Assembly of Experts.
The head of staff under Imam Khomeini and a prominent Muslim scholar and statesman, Ayatollah Muhammad Raza Tavassoli passed away in Iran Saturday morning. Upon suffering a heart attack, the Ayatollah was transferred to a local hospital, where he passed away shortly thereafter, Mehr News Agency reports.
His funeral was held on Sunday and was attended by several prominent scholars and government officials, including Ayatollah Safi Gulpaygani, Ayatollah Yousuf Sane'i, Ayatollah Mahmud Shahroudi, former presidents Hashemi Rafsanjani and Muhammad Khatami, Majlis speaker Dr. Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel, and Hujjatul Islam Hassan Khomeini, the grandson of the late Leader, who led funeral prayers. He was laid to rest in the shrine of Imam Khomeini.
Ayatollah Tavassoli headed the office of Imam Khomeini during the latter's years as Supreme Leader. He also served on the Assembly of Experts. Presently, he was a member of the Expediency Council of the Islamic Republic as well as on the ballot for seeking election to the Assembly of Experts.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Khamenei offered words of praise and commendation for the scholar.
"The respectable scholar was one of Imam (Khomeini's) students and was among the first followers of the great movement of the grand Imam," Ayatollah Khamenei said. "From the beginning of the Islamic Revolution until the last moments of that great leader's life, Ayatollah Tavassoli was at his service."
Hujjatul Islam Hassan Khomeini had similar words of admiration.
"He lived his life defending the late Imam and his manner with full responsibility. His influential presence at the Imam's office both before and after the Islamic Revolution can never be forgotten," Mehr News Agency quoted him as saying.
