Akbar Hashemi's Memoirs - February 1, 2002

Opposition pressure and strikes and demonstrations against Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez have intensified / [Ayatollah Khamenei] expressed his displeasure over the letter from the [Party of Participation]. They said they were not satisfied with the Freedom Movement's participation in the council elections; they also told [Mr. Mousavi Lari], the Minister of Interior. They consider Mr. [Abbas] Abdi's issue [regarding the Future Polling Institute] important

Full text of the daily:

[UN] weapons inspectors in Iraq requested an extension of their mission, and China and France said they believed the deadline should be extended, but the United States and Britain expressed doubts about the effectiveness of continuing the inspection. The foreign ministers of the members of the [UN] Security Council held a special meeting on the threat of terrorism and issued a strong statement.
In Kuwait, a car carrying two American citizens was attacked; one was killed and one was wounded. Cyprus announced that it was ready to accept interrogation sessions of Iraqi scientists by investigators.
Opposition pressure and strikes and demonstrations against [Hugo Chavez], President of Venezuela, intensified and it was announced that the Venezuelan President’s suitcase was stolen during a trip to Ecuador last week and the thief was arrested.
Dr. [Alireza] Jamshidi, head of the research group for judicial development, came. He has a mission from [Head of the Judiciary] Mr. [Seyed Mahmoud Hashemi] Shahroudi and is working with a group of researchers. He said that they have come to the conclusion that judicial problems are mainly due to the structure of management and partly to laws and regulations. He thanked me for my speech to the judges of Tehran for showing the solutions, especially the emphasis on prevention, and he consulted on the High Council for Prevention, whose policy is discussed in the Assembly [of the Expediency Discernment], and also on the strategy for structural reform. I shared some of my experiences with structural reforms in the High Administrative Council; including the measures taken to issue passports and driving licenses.
Mr. [Ahmad] Mollazadeh, a representative of the first term of the Majlis, came from Gonabad. He complained about the banks, the Ministry of Industries, and the government for not supporting industry and agriculture. He left the clerical robes and worked in the saffron trade and the industry of retreading old automobile tires. He got into debt and asked for help. He said that some of the achievements of the construction era were being destroyed.
General [Assadollah] Naseh, [the head of the IRGC Ground Force Inspectorate], came with his friends from Karaj. They are complaining about the judiciary accusing them of kidnapping and defaming them; although Mr. Hashemi Shahroudi apparently ordered the case to be handed over to the IRGC, the judge has kept the case and they are not even willing to hand it over to the Armed Forces Judicial Organization, which is the legal authority for handling military cases. He thinks that Mr. [Ali Akbar] Nateq Nouri, [the head of the Leader’s Office Inspectorate], is the root of the problem. Recently, there have been revelations against them on the Internet and the newspapers Resalat and Hamshahri have also written about them.
In the afternoon, Dr. [Ahmad Ali] Noorbala, the head of the Red Crescent Society, came. He gave explanations about the history of the Red Crescent, the Red Cross, the Lion and the Sun, and relief and cultural works. He asked me to participate in its anniversary ceremony on Eid al-Ghadir. He said that the most assistance to the Red Crescent after the revolution was provided by the construction government.
I had a meeting with the leadership at night. According to the usual meetings, it lasts about two hours with dinner. We discussed Iraq. America is in a mess; it has problems both before the possible war, during the war, and after the war. Turkey and the countries of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Russia are trying to solve the problem of America without war by putting pressure on Saddam. A meeting of their and Iran's foreign ministers is supposed to be held in Ankara on Thursday, and the leadership is not very in favor of Iran's participation; but overall, we have preferred to participate and announce our position.
[Ayatollah Khamenei] expressed his displeasure with the letter from the [Party of] Participators. They said they were not satisfied with the Freedom Movement's participation in the council elections; they also told [Mr. Mousavi Lari], the Minister of Interior. They consider Mr. [Abbas] Abdi's issue [regarding the Future Polling Institute] important.