Ayatollah Bathaee, representative of Tehran in the Assembly of Experts, passed away at age 78 on Monday morning due to infection with coronavirus.

The cleric, who had been infected with COVID-19 died at a hospital in Qom, the city where the first cases of coronavirus in Iran were detected.

The Assembly of Experts is a high-ranking body that elects and oversees the activities of the leader of the Islamic Revolution. Members of the assembly are directly elected to office by people for an eight-year term.

The coronavirus has taken the lives of a number of major figures in Iran so far, including newly-elected MP Fatemeh Rahbar, ex-ambassador to Syria Hossein Sheikholeslam, newly-elected lawmaker Mohammad Ali Ramezani, former lawmaker Mohammad Reza Rahchamani, former ambassador to Vatican City Seyed Hadi Khosroshahi, adviser to the Judiciary chief Ahmad Tuiserkani, and Mojtaba Fazeli, the chief of staff of top cleric Ayatollah Shobeiri Zanjani.

The death toll from coronavirus in Iran rose to 724 on Sunday, while nearly 4,600 patients have recovered from the disease in the country so far.

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