Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi - July 6, 2000 - Intense Media Campaign Against Iran Due to the Verdict of Jewish Spies

Intense Media Campaign Against Iran Due to the Verdict of Jewish Spies

Announcement of Khatami's Trip to Germany

Emphasis on the Necessity for Clerical Students to Consider the Demands of the Time

Yesterday, [Bill Clinton], the President of the United States, met with Zionist Jewish leaders and promised them that he would take action to pressure Iran for the release of the convicted Jewish spies. Following this meeting, the U.S. State Department issued a statement calling for the revocation of the prison sentences of the spies and urged other countries to support the U.S. in this effort. A heavy media campaign against Iran and its judiciary has been launched. A few days ago, when anti-Zionist Jewish leaders returned from Iran and invited reporters for a press conference to discuss their trip, journalists in the U.S. boycotted the event, and no one but the Islamic Republic News Agency's reporter attended. Previously, Western powers and Israel had called for avoiding death sentences for the spies, and rabbis had said that their visit helped reduce the sentences. However, after the relatively light verdicts were announced, Western powers changed their tone and began attacking the Islamic and Iranian judicial principles. This situation is likely to continue for some time.

After some hesitation, Germany and Iran officially announced that Mr. [Seyed Mohammad] Khatami [President of Iran] would visit Germany from July 10 to 12. This announcement has also triggered another wave of intense propaganda against Iran. 175 members of the Federal Parliament and 300 regional parliament members issued an offensive statement demanding the cancellation of Mr. Khatami's visit. The Mojahedin [MEK] and other opposition groups are preparing extensively for protests against Mr. Khatami. The security measures for the trip are unprecedented, similar to those taken during the visit of [Mohammad Reza] Shah [Pahlavi] 33 years ago, during which a student was killed.

In the evening, a group of clerical students from Qom came to visit. They are part of the "Velayat Camp" and are on their way to Mashhad for a camp and stopped to see me. We performed the Maghrib and Isha prayers together. They reported on their daily activities, and I spoke to them about the demands of the time and the need for the religious seminaries [in Qom] to pay attention to contemporary needs and align their studies with a governmental perspective. They were my guests for dinner. I gifted each of them a collection of my memoirs from 1981, along with the accompanying books, including "Crossing the Crisis," Friday prayer sermons, interviews, messages, and speeches. It was agreed that they could purchase any of my published works with a significant discount for clerical students.