About Rafsanjani Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani (Persian: اکبر هاشمی رفسنجانی Akbar Hāshemī Rafsanjānī, Hashemi Bahramani (هاشمی بهرمانی); born August 25, 1934) is an influential Iranian politician, writer and former president. Currently he holds the position of Chairman of the Assembly of Experts (a deliberative body of Mujtahids that is charged with electing, monitoring, and dismissing the Supreme Leader of Iran) and Chairman of the Expediency Discernment Council of Iran (an unelected administrative assembly that resolves legislative conflicts between the Majlis (Parliament) and the Council of Guardians). Rafsanjani served as President of Iran from 1989 to 1997. In 2005 he ran for a third term in office, placing first in the first round of elections but ultimately losing to rival Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the run-off round of the 2005 election. He was also elected as the Chairman of Iranian parliament in 1980 and served till 1989. In 1980, Rafsanjani survived an assassination attempt, during which he was seriously injured. Rafsanjani has been described as a centrist and a "pragmatic conservative". He supports a free market position domestically, favoring privatization of state-owned industries, and a moderate position internationally, seeking to avoid conflict with the United States and the West. As president, Rafsanjani was credited with spurring Iran's reconstruction following the 1980-88 war with Iraq. He was also accused of corruption by both conservatives and reformists, and known for tough crackdowns on dissent. Post-presidency, Rafsanjani delivered a sermon at Tehran University in the summer of 1999 praising government use of force to suppress student demonstrations. In more recent years, Rafsanjani has advocated freedom of expression, tolerance and civil society. In a speech on July 17 2009, Rafsanjani criticized restriction of media and suppression of activists, and put emphasis on the role and vote of people in the Islamic Republic constitution. The event has been considered by analysts as the most important and most turbulent Friday prayer in the history of contemporary Iran. Nearly 1.5-2.5 million people attended the speech in Tehran. According to one of their disillusioned members, Amir Farshad Ebrahimi, Rafsanjani is one of the founders and a chief financial supporter of the conservative Islamic group Ansar-e Hezbollah.