(CNN) Iranian conservative cleric Ayatollah Mohammad-Taqi Mesbah Yazdi died in Tehran on Friday, according to Iran's state-run Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA). The Imam Khomeini Educational and Research Institute, which Mesbah Yazdi headed, said he had been hospitalized over the past few days with a disease to his digestive system. The prominent cleric played a major part in the 1979 uprising that overthrew the Western-backed Shah of Iran, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, according to Iran's state-run Press TV. Mesbah Yazdi was seen as a hardliner and anti-West in general, including holding anti-US positions. According to regional experts, he was a spiritual mentor to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the former Iranian President who served from 2005 to 2013.

Source: CNN January 02, 2021 00:22 UTC