TEHRAN – Ayatollah Abbas Ali Akhtari, the representative of Tehran in the Assembly of Experts, passed away on Monday evening.

He had been in hospital in the past days, suffering from cancerous disease, Fars reported. 

Ayatollah Akhtari, born in 1939 in the city of Sorkheh in Semnan province, also served as a parliamentarian for two terms.

He was appointed as Friday leader of Semnan by Imam Khomeini in 1981. However, he resigned in 2001.

The ayatollah found a seat in the Assembly of Experts in by-term elections in February 2019.

The 86-member Assembly of Experts is constitutionally tasked to elect and monitor Leader of the Islamic Revolution. The representatives for the clerical assembly are elected every eight years.