Ousted: Iran's President of the Assembly of Experts

Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani

Former moderate Iranian president and opposition member, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, has lost his position as head of the Assembly of Experts.

Rafsanjani was criticized as being too close to the reformist opposition and subsequently withdrew his candidacy as President of the Assembly of Experts, a position he has held since 2007.

Rafsanjani had a fall-out with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the 2009 presidential poll-the aftermath tolling dozens of deaths and hundreds of arrests.

Rafsanjani, a pragmatic conservative, publicly called for political freedoms and the release of political prisoners. He repeated his opinions on numerous occasions and is widely known to disagree with Ahmadinejad.

Is it any coincidence that in the midst of all of these Middle Eastern revolutions and riots, one of the last remaining moderates is ousted and his position is taken over by a Presidential choice? I think not.