Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – January 4, 2003

Mr. Tabasi criticized the inappropriate handling of the reputation of prominent figures under the guise of fighting economic corruption, and others concurred. Dr. [Ebrahim] Yazdi says that since Mr. Hashemi has always helped us, it would be good if he could state that the members of the [Freedom] Movement are not subversives, as this would influence the court's verdict.

Full Diary Text:
In the meeting of the Expediency Discernment Council, we had two disputed items between the Guardian Council and the Parliament; one was approved according to the Guardian Council's view and the other according to the Parliament's. One concerned the exemption of government agencies from paying legal fees; due to the discrimination between the plaintiff, the government, and the people, and the possibility of violating public rights, the Guardian Council's view was accepted. Even though it was a government bill, the government officials also accepted that this discrimination is unjust.

At noon, I had a meeting with Messrs. [Abbas Vaez] Tabasi, [Ahmad] Jannati, [Ali Akbar] Nateq-Nouri, [Mohammad] Yazdi, [Ghorbanali] Dorri-Najafabadi, and [Mohammad-Ali] Movahedi-Kermani. Mr. Tabasi criticized the inappropriate handling of the reputation of prominent figures under the guise of fighting economic corruption, and the others concurred. We discussed the council elections and the lack of interest among candidates, which we attributed to the poor performance of the councils, especially in Tehran; we emphasized that the Executives of Construction Party (Kargozaran) should participate independently. The potential consequences of war in Iraq were also discussed.

In the afternoon, Mr. [Seyyed Mahmoud] Alizadeh-Tabatabaei, a member of the Tehran City Council, came to see me. He spoke about the issues regarding the council members and their abuses of power; for example, a number of them have settled in houses belonging to the Tehran Municipality, and some expect the houses to be sold to them at cost price. Because the mayor cannot grant such a discount, they have risen in opposition to him. He asked me to help encourage Mr. [Gholamhossein] Karbaschi to run for the Tehran City Council to strengthen the Kargozaran list. He mentioned that Dr. [Ebrahim] Yazdi [General Secretary of the Freedom Movement] says that since Mr. Hashemi has always helped us, it would be good if he could state that the members of the Movement are not subversives, as this would influence the court's verdict. He also gave examples of the conflicts between the Participation [Front] and the Kargozaran parties within the council.