Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – April 17, 1999

We had a meeting of the Expediency Council. Eight more provisions of the general policies of the Third Development Plan were approved. After the meeting, Mr. Abdullah Nouri, [managing editor of Khordad newspaper], came and expressed concern about the pressure that had begun to be brought against the press. He asked me to speak with the Leader to help ease the pressure and said that we were prepared to implement the Leader’s views. He said he had heard that Mr. [Mohammad] Mohammadi Gilani, [Chief Justice of the Supreme Court], had invoked Article 18 in Mr. Karbaschi’s case and referred it to a judicial chamber, but that Mr. [Mohammad] Yazdi, [Head of the Judiciary], had threatened him and he had withdrawn the referral. I had also heard from the Leader that they had told Him that the Supreme Court wanted to send the case to a chamber that would simply archive the case.

Mr. [Ali] Larijani, [head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting], came and, expressing grave concern about the course of affairs in the country, suggested that I think of a way to address the situation. He said that after discussing the matter among themselves, they had concluded that there was no one but me capable of putting things in order. He emphasized that the Independence Party should announce its existence as soon as possible, in order to attract independent forces who could be effective in the parliamentary elections. I said that I was still committed to the same policy of refusing to take on official responsibilities. It had been foreseeable from the beginning that there would be this kind of turbulence after me. It seems they are not going to let the matter drop, because almost every day someone from their side comes and says the same thing, including Messrs. [Abbas Vaez] Tabasi, [Rahim] Safavi, [Mohammad Bagher] Zolqadr, [Mohammad Bagher] Navisi, and others.

In the afternoon, Mr. [Hadi] Nejad-Hosseinian, [Iran’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations], came. He said that developments in international forums were moving toward the globalization of countries’ affairs and a reduction in domestic restrictions, and that gradually the rules of GATT, freer investment, and the standardization of environmental principles and other such measures would prevail. He believed that NATO would probably be complicit in the ethnic cleansing of the Kosovars. In world news, the continuation of the ethnic cleansing in Kosovo is significant. According to the United Nations, 1.2 million people have so far been displaced, while NATO’s air strikes continue.

Mr. [Serajeddin] Kazerooni, [Deputy for Research], from the Ministry of Housing [and Urban Development], came and gave a report on the urban improvement projects in Mashhad and Qom. He also spoke about efforts to pursue the transfer of the country’s political center from Tehran and sought my assistance.