Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – May 17, 2003

The Infrastructure Commission [Assembly for the Expediency of the Nizam] had a meeting and there was a discussion about the general arrangement of the land.  The history, definition, ideals and goals were told.  We reached the policies.   In the evening, I had an interview with Al-Alam network about the issues of Iraq and Palestine and the internal situation.   Mr. [Hasan] Beheshtipour, [Director of Al-Alam Network] also told the advertising policies of the network.
Mr. [Yadullah] Taherenjad, [Head of the Handicrafts Organization] came. He said, a carpet merchant came from Europe and narrates from reliable sources that European antique dealers have entered into negotiations with England to take six or eight pieces of exquisite Iranian carpets that were gifted to the Karbala shrine 100 years ago and are kept in the shrine museum and are worth hundreds of millions of dollars.  I told Mr. Sardar [Qassem] Soleimani, [Quds Corps commander], if it is true, they should prevent it in Iraq by appropriate means.
The New York Times writes that the United States and England have given up on forming an interim government with Iraqi opposition leaders.  The International Red Cross, which has taken 59 people - the last Iraqi prisoners in Iran - from here to Iraq, has received some of the bodies of Iranian martyrs from Basra warehouse to deliver them to Iran. 
A Swiss human rights association has announced that it will file a lawsuit against George Bush, [President of the United States] and [Tony] Blair, [Prime Minister of England] to the International Court of Justice as war criminals.  A Belgian lawyer has filed a complaint to the Belgian court on behalf of a group of Iraqi people who have been harmed by American attacks, and the United States has threatened the Belgian government.
He will take revenge.  The German chancellor, after meeting with [Colin] Powell, [US Secretary of State], has agreed to lift the sanctions on Iraq.
In Dar al-Baida, Morocco, five consecutive explosions took place last night, killing about 40 and injuring 100, one of the Jewish centers and a center from Spain, and they were among the targets once.  In Afghanistan, American forces have been attacked in several places.  It was in the news that Ezzat Ibrahim, [Saddam Hussein's first deputy] has been arrested in Iraq.  A North Korean general who took refuge in Japan said that the range of a number of nuclear bombs and long-range missiles will reach America.