Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi - September 1, 2000 - The Most Significant and Thought-Provoking Entry on the Meeting with Ahmad Bourghani, a Current Member of the Sixth Parliament

Meeting with Mehdi Karbasian and a report on customs activities.

Meeting with Mehdi Akbarzadeh, expressing dissatisfaction over the removal of Isa Kalantari from the Ministry of Agriculture.

Meeting with a group of Qashqai nomads along with the Imam of Dehaghan and the congress honoring Hakim Jahangir Qashqai.

Meeting with Behrouz Boushehri and a report on the situation at the Qeshm Free Zone.

The most significant and thought-provoking entry on this date concerns the meeting with Ahmad Bourghani, a current member of the Sixth Parliament.

After hearing from Seyyed Mohammad Khatami that Ayatollah Khamenei perceived his thoughts as subversive, and recognizing the subsequent implications of this notion, he quickly approached the powerful Hashemi of that year to indirectly convey to the Supreme Leader that his activities regarding the press law reform were driven by goodwill.

Meeting with Dr. Alireza Noori, a member of the Sixth Parliament, who provided an update on his imprisoned brother, Sheikh Abdullah Noori, expressing hopelessness about the formation of a special court of appeal for him and requesting Hashemi’s mediation to benefit from legal leniency for an open prison sentence, which is contingent on the prison's proposal and the prosecutor's agreement.

It is worth mentioning that Abdullah Noori, considering the foundation of this judicial court and the special clerical judiciary illegal, did not directly object to the ruling of Judge Mohammad Salimi, head of the Second Court. Mohsen Rahami, his lawyer, conveyed this matter to the then head of the judiciary, which naturally went unheeded, and the preliminary ruling was upheld.

Full Text of the Daily Record:

Mr. [Mehdi] Karbasian, the head of customs, came in. He reported that there has been an 11% drop in non-oil exports compared to last year, and with this situation, we will not reach the goals of the Third Plan. He criticized the government for not paying adequate attention to such issues, although many administrative barriers to exports have been lifted. Dr. [Mehdi] Akbarzadeh, an expert on agricultural toxins, expressed concern over the removal of Dr. [Isa] Kalantari, [Minister of Agriculture], who was a strong supporter of research for producing pesticides.

A group of Qashqai nomads, accompanied by Mr. [Hosein] Momenpour, the Imam of Dehaghan, came in. They reported on the congress honoring the late Hakim Jahangir Qashqai—the teacher of [Seyyed Hossein] Boroujerdi, [Seyyed Hassan] Modarres, and [Mirza Hossein] Naini. I encouraged them and offered some remarks. The Imam recalled a dream he had during his trip to Semiram; he is the father of two martyrs, and it was an interesting dream for me.

In the evening, Mr. [Behrouz] Boushehri, CEO of the Qeshm Free Zone, came in. He reported on new initiatives, including the establishment of a refueling center for ships in the waters south of Qeshm Island, which, due to the advantages it has over the Fujairah Center in the UAE, can attract more ships.

Mr. [Ahmad] Bourghani [Farahani], a representative from Tehran, came in. He expressed concern over the pressure being placed on his like-minded colleagues and relayed Mr. [Seyyed Mohammad] Khatami's comments that the leadership had stated Bourghani had subversive thoughts. He declared his loyalty and described his active involvement in the press reform issue as being well-intentioned, praising me extensively and recalling many of my reformist and innovative actions, including the establishment of Azad University, the expansion of universities, literacy initiatives, modernizing Iran, empowering women, and the parliamentary and presidential elections. He emphasized the importance of Faizeh’s role in recent developments and criticized some of the second Khordad activists for their poor treatment of me, urging me to maintain my paternal approach and help resolve the disputes among the second Khordad groups, which are approaching conflict. I said I oppose extremism from both the left and right and will strengthen moderates.

Mr. Alireza Noori, a Tehran representative and brother of Mr. Abdullah Noori [former Minister of Interior], came in. He explained the current situation of Mr. Noori and his family and requested my assistance in facilitating his release so that he could go on weekly leave. In our previous meeting, he had called for a retrial, but now it seems he has lost hope. He mentioned that the disputes among the second Khordad activists in parliament are serious.