Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – July 11, 1998

I went to the International Conference Center of the Broadcasting Organization for the opening of the 11th Unity Week Congress. About 70 foreign Islamic and political figures and a large gathering of domestic dignitaries were present. Mr. Mohammad Vaez-Zadeh Khorasani, the head of the Forum for Proximity of Islamic Schools of Thought, gave a welcome speech and a report on the program and also paid tribute to me. I gave a short speech about the realism and the innate nature of Islamic teachings and introduced the quantitative and progressive growth of the number of Muslims—who today are about 1.5 billion, 25 percent of the world's population—and attention to the basic needs and interests of the majority of the people as the factor of Islam's acceptability. The title of the congress is the characteristics of Islam, and I mentioned one characteristic and criticized the cunning policy of America, Israel, and the West against Muslims.

I went to my office. Immediately the meeting of the Expediency Discernment Council began. We approved the text of the general policies regarding information and the internet in three clauses for referral to the Leadership. Mr. Mohsen Rezaei, the Council's Secretary, came after the meeting. He is very upset and distraught about his son's asylum in America. Through one of his relatives who had a school together with Ahmad, he had approached Ahmad, bought him, and taken both of them to America, and they are now under the control of the CIA. He said that after completing the documents, we will announce.

In the afternoon, a group of Sunni clerics from Sistan and Baluchestan came. Mr. Seyyed Mojtaba Hosseini, the representative of the Supreme Leader in Sunni affairs, gave a report on the Unity camp and spoke about the cooperation of the Sunnis. I too spoke about unity and the good management of differences of opinion, which are unavoidable, and expressed gratitude to the Sunnis and their clerics for their loyalty, especially in the border areas.

Messrs. Mohammad Reza Yazdanpanah, the CEO of the Kish Free Zone Organization, and Dadkhoda Barakam came from Kish Island. They complained about the decision to dismiss Mr. Yazdanpanah and considered it the result of opposition to the development of the Free Zones Secretariat, which has angered Mr. Morteza Alviri, the Secretary of the Supreme Council of Free Commercial and Industrial Zones; they expect me to prevent it.

At night, with the heads of the branches, we were the guests of Mr. Mohammad Yazdi, the Head of the Judiciary. Mr. Yazdi consulted about the quality of pursuing the issue of windfall wealth, about which the Leadership has recently renewed the information. Mr. Nateq Nouri, the Speaker of the Parliament, said that in the very first days in Mashhad he had spoken with the Leadership and had pointed out the harms of this action, including the loss of economic security, and the problems it creates for the new government, but the Leadership had not accepted it and had said that they would answer in a public speech, which they did—and this speech was also the answer to his remarks in the gathering of judges.

Mr. Khatami, the President, also spoke about the problems that have arisen for the economy and the government. Mr. Yazdi said that after the announcement in the Friday prayer and the press and radio and television last year, about 80 cases were formed in this regard with the people's reports and complaints and sent to the court, but only five of them could be pursued, and those too did not reach anywhere, and recently there was a meeting in the Leader's office where Mr. Gholamhossein Rehbarpour, the head of the [Tehran Islamic] Revolutionary Court, was told that these actions are harmful to the country and the Leader's personality.

I too spoke in this same regard. It was decided that the judicial apparatus, without publicity, would continue the legal actions, and in cases where large wealth has been created without legal problems, action would be taken through taxation, which is itself another legal way.

Mr. Yazdi said that he had requested the pardon of Mr. Morteza Firouzi, the editor-in-chief of the Tehran Times newspaper, from the Leadership, and it had been arranged that a solution would also be thought of for stoning. There was talk about the case and trial of the mayor. Mr. Yazdi said that he has no interference and the judge's opinion is the criterion. Mr. Nateq asked Mr. Khatami to coordinate with the parliament in advance regarding the new Minister of Interior; Mr. Khatami did not accept. On the way home, Mr. Khatami got in my car and we had a discussion on the way. Regarding his negotiations with the Leadership about America, he said, I stated my opinion on agreeing to negotiate and have relations with America, with the specification that in practice I act according to the Leadership's policy and I obtained permission that, to the extent of the current statements, we can have room to maneuver.

Regarding the Ministry of Interior, the ministry of Mr. Seyyed Mohammad Mousavi Khoeiniha has been opposed. Mr. Mousavi himself is also not in agreement and has demanded a change of the Minister of Intelligence and that the Minister of Interior be coordinated. He has told the Leadership that in this situation, the presidency has no attraction for me. He intends to ask the Leadership at the next meeting to agree to changing the Ministry of Intelligence and introducing a suitable Minister of Interior of his own thinking and coordinated with himself. He said that they do not intend to coordinate with the parliament, even if the proposed minister is rejected several times.

He also does not consider Mr. Ali Shamkhani suitable for the Ministry of Interior and says that during the impeachment of Mr. Abdollah Nouri, the deputies of the Ministry of Defense acted against Mr. Nouri and he does not have the necessary intimacy with him. He said that he does not want to introduce someone who will strengthen the extreme leftists against the Kargozaran [Construction] in the government. He believes that the Ministry of Intelligence is working against him.