Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi - May 20, 2000 - Meeting of the Expediency Discernment Council on the Transfer of Governmental Discretionary Punishments to the Judiciary and Financial Independence of the Judiciary

The meeting of the Expediency Discernment Council focused on judicial policies. There was significant debate regarding the transfer of discretionary punishments (Ta’zirat) from the government to the Judiciary and the financial independence of the Judiciary. The general policies were approved.

At noon, Mr. [Abbas Va'ez] Tabasi, Mr. [Ahmad] Jannati, Mr. [Ali Akbar] Nateq Nouri, Mr. [Qorbanali] Dorri [Najafabadi], and Mr. [Mohammad Ali] Movahedi Kermani were my guests. Mr. Jannati provided a report on the final session of the Guardian Council, stating that the Tehran elections were annulled with eight votes. However, after informing the Supreme Leader and seeking his opinion, with the presence of Mr. [Seyyed Ali Asghar] Hejazi [from the Leader's office] in the session and writing a letter to the Leader, the elections were validated, with some ballot boxes annulled and a directive to prosecute the offenders. The guests criticized this move, stating that after the annulment decision, there was no need to seek the Leader’s opinion.

At noon, the results of the new elected representatives from Tehran were announced after the annulment of some ballot boxes. My position rose from 30th to 20th place, and Mr. [Gholam-Ali] Haddad-Adel became a representative. Mr. [Rasoul] Montajab-Nia and Mr. [Alireza] Rajaei were sent to the second round.

Mr. Dorri [Najafabadi, former Minister of Intelligence] explained the details of his interrogation regarding the Chain Murders, which were based on false claims by some of the accused. There was also discussion about the prosecution of offenders and Mr. Jannati's complaint against the newspaper "Bayan" and Mr. [Mostafa Tajzadeh, Head of the Ministry of Interior's Election Headquarters].

In the afternoon, Mr. [Alireza] Sheikh Attar, Mr. [Mehdi] Mostafavi, and Mr. [Mansour] Ghafouri, members of the three-member recount team, came to report on the recount process and requested that I not withdraw from the elections.

The news of my decision to withdraw from the parliament had spread, and I received many visits from people urging me to reconsider, including Mr. [Abbas Va'ez] Tabasi and Mr. [Behzad] Nabavi. In the evening, there was a meeting of the heads of the three branches at Mr. [Seyyed Mahmoud] Hashemi Shahroudi’s office, where we discussed the Chain Murders case, Mr. Dorri's situation, Mr. [Seyyed Mohammad] Khatami's health condition, the situation in Najaf, and the regulations for future meetings of the heads of the branches.