Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – April 10, 1990

I did not fast because of boredom. I reached my office at half past nine in the morning. Backlogs have been completed. Mr. Fakhreddin Hejazi, [Tehran's representative in the parliament] came. He reported on his trip to the East and said that the Muslims of the region are strongly in favor of the Iranian revolution. He demanded to support Islamic movements with material facilities. He expressed concern about the weakening of the radicals with the leadership's policy and the actions of the leadership's staff. I said that they who used to harass him in some way before leading him, now they should win his trust by compensating for their past actions. He complained about the lack of use of his speeches on the radio and said that he and Mr. Seyyed Hadi Khamenei are planning to travel to the Soviet Union.

Mr. [Mohammed Hasan] Rahimian, the deputy head of the Shahid Foundation, came and gave a comprehensive report on the status of the foundation. The family covers about 160,000 martyrs, 40,000 missing and 20,000 prisoners; About 20,000 of the missing are unregistered prisoners. The number of their family members, including spouses, fathers, mothers, children and some brothers and sisters, who somehow use the facilities of the Shahid Foundation, is about one and a half million people.

He said that if the foundation wants to implement the desired program for them, an annual budget of about twenty three billion tomans is required. Currently, it has a budget of twelve billion tomans. He appealed to improve their situation. I said that the main policy of the foundation should be to provide suitable jobs. He especially expressed concern about the mental state of the martyrs' wives; Out of about 60,000 wives of martyrs, only about 10,000 are married and the rest, most of them are in serious need of marriage. I said, it is good to advertise that the wives of the martyrs are ready to get married and their pensions will not be cut in this case. They decided to investigate.

In the evening, the officials of the Khuzestan sugarcane project came and gave a work report. 84,000 hectares of land are supposed to be cultivated for sugarcane in five years and a total of 60 billion Tomans will be invested by creating related industries such as paper, fodder, animal feed and chipboard. The foreign exchange expenses of this project will be provided through finance. To solve the problems of the plan, they applied. Due to the importance of the project, I promised serious assistance. According to them, within two years after its launch, its product can compensate the foreign exchange cost of the project.

Iftar, members of the Expediency Council were my guests. Then we had a meeting that lasted until eleven o'clock at night; Article 20 of the Labor Law was amended and approved. After the meeting, Mr. [Ahmed] Janati, [the head of the Islamic Advertising Organization], asked permission for the advertising organization to sell additional imported goods. He also requested a treasure to pursue the claims of the claimants; I said that the authority for this matter is the Ministry of Guidance, [Cultural Heritage Organization]. Mr. [Hasan] Saneyi, [Chairman of the 15 Khordad Foundation], applied for the supply of goods for the stores of the 15 Khordad Foundation. I arrived home at twelve o'clock at night; I did not sleep until dawn.