LONDON (Reuters) – Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, a senior Iranian cleric and a former chief justice, died in Tehran on Monday after a long illness, state media reported.

Shahroudi, 70, was a close ally of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and had been seen by analysts as a possible successor to him.

He cut short a visit to Germany for treatment in January when activists referred him to German prosecutors, citing his record of passing death sentences which they said amounted to a crime against humanity.

Shahroudi was head of Iran’s hardline judiciary for a decade until 2009, but he implemented some reforms including banning death penalty by stoning, arguing it was tarnishing Iran’s image.

However, human rights groups say he failed to put an end to arbitrary arrests of political and human rights activists, and mistreatment and torture of the prisoners. Dozens of newspapers were banned under his watch and many journalists and bloggers faced long term sentences.

Shahroudi was appointed by Khamenei in 2017 as the head of the Expediency Council, a body intended to resolve disputes between parliament and a watchdog body, the Guardian Council.

He was born in the city of Najaf in Iraq to Iranian parents. In the 1970s he was jailed and tortured by Saddam Hussein’s security forces because of his political activities.

He moved to Iran after the Islamic revolution in 1979 and was promoted to top posts. In recent years, Shahroudi aimed to raise his profile in Iraq as a replacement for Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the top Shi’ite cleric and a powerful figure in Iraq.

(Reporting by Bozorgmehr Sharafedin; Editing by Richard Balmforth)</s>TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran's state TV is reporting that Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, head of the Expediency Council advisory body to the country's Supreme Leader, has died at the age of 70.</s>TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran's state TV is reporting that Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, head of the Expediency Council advisory body to the country's Supreme Leader, has died at the age of 70.

The Monday report said Shahroudi was long sick and hospitalized in north Tehran. Reportedly, he was suffering from gastrointestinal cancer.

Shahroudi, a relatively moderate cleric, was appointed as chairman of the Expediency Council in 2017 by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The body arbitrates on differences between parliament and the Guardian Council, a constitutional watchdog.

Shahroudi was also chief of the judiciary from 1999 to 2009.

Born and raised in Najaf, Iraq, Sharoudi was close to the late leader of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomenei, who spent years in exile there.</s>The Western Journal has not reviewed this Associated Press story prior to publication. Therefore, it may contain editorial bias or may in some other way not meet our normal editorial standards. It is provided to our readers as a service from The Western Journal.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s state TV is reporting that Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, head of the Expediency Council advisory body to the country’s Supreme Leader, has died at the age of 70.

The Monday report said Shahroudi was long sick and hospitalized in north Tehran. Reportedly, he was suffering from gastrointestinal cancer.

Shahroudi, a relatively moderate cleric, was appointed as chairman of the Expediency Council in 2017 by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The body arbitrates on differences between parliament and the Guardian Council, a constitutional watchdog.

Shahroudi was also chief of the judiciary from 1999 to 2009.

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Born and raised in Najaf, Iraq, Sharoudi was close to the late leader of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomenei, who spent years in exile there.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.</s>Shahroudi died at 22:03 in Tehran’s Khatsm al-Anbia hospital on Monday, December 24, 2018.

He is going to be buried at the holy shrine of Hazrat Massoumeh in Qom.

Known as a candidate for the position of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Shahroudi was a very prominent figure in Iran’s politics.</s>According to the news website of Iranian government ‘dolat.ir’, Wednesday Dec. 26 will be a national day of mourning throughout Iran as a mark of respect for the late Chairman of the Expediency Council Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, who passed away last night after a long-standing struggle with cancer.

In a message issued on Tuesday, the Iranian government offered condolences on the demise of Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi to the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Khamenei, the senior clergymen, seminaries, the honorable nation of Islamic Iran, and the family of the deceased cleric, and declared Wednesday as a national day of mourning.
Chairman of Iran's Expediency Discernment Council and former Chief Justice Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi dies at the age of 70.