NAN-F-21
President
Berlin, Jan. 10, 2017 (dpa/NAN) Roman Herzog, the first politician to be made president of reunified Germany, has died aged 82; the presidential office confirmed it on Tuesday.
Prior to his term as president from 1994 to 1999, Herzog served as president of Germany’s Constitutional Court.
The Christian Democrat campaigned tirelessly for reform and is known for a 1997 speech in which he called for a “jolt through Germany” in order to push through social and economic change.
While the role of president in Germany is largely ceremonial, Herzog brought with him huge moral authority to the post.
However, the German President, Joachim Gauck pays tribute to Herzog, saying he was a “distinctive personality” with “forward-looking courage.”
“As German head of state from 1994 to 1999, Herzog had “shaped and left a mark on Germany’s sense of identity and the cohesion of our society.
“With expertise, wisdom and drawing on enormous experiences of life, he stood up for our country and its free constitution.
“As a minister, as president of the Constitutional Court and as German president, the rights of the citizen and freedom were never abstract terms,” Gauck writes in a letter of condolence to the former president’s wife, Baroness Berlichingen.
In a new development, masses came out on Tuesday in honour of the deceased Iranian president Akbar Rafsanjani who died at aged 82, the report said.
Hundreds of thousands of Iranians joined the country’s political leadership to bid farewell to deceased former Rafsanjani, who died at the weekend of a heart attack.
The requiem at the University of Tehran was led by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei.
Rafsanjani was seen widely as a moderate cleric, was one of the architect’s of Iran’s 1979 revolution and a mentor of the current president, Hassan Rowhani.
His death also prompted global condolences, even from the U.S., a nation with which Iran has frequently been at odds with since its revolution.
“He was a prominent figure throughout the history of the Islamic republic of Iran.
“It’s not inappropriate for us to simply offer our thoughts to a family that’s grieving right now,” State Department spokesman John Kirby said.
In the U.S., Rafsanjani was known for a clandestine deal with the Reagan administration that became known as the Iran Contra affair.
It involved a secret that sent U.S. arms to Iran during its war against Iraq.
The cash that Iran paid for the military hardware was then illegally funneled to anti-communist rebels in Nicaragua. (dpa/NAN)
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=======Edited by Celine-Damilola Oyewole/Morayo Omolade