Memories of Akbar Hashemi - October 7, 2001 - Meeting with a number of female representatives of the Sixth Parliament

Hashemi's account of the widespread attacks on Afghanistan

Meeting with Hasan Salari Sharif Abadi

Consultative meeting with Gholamreza Forouzan

Meeting with the Board of Directors of the House of Industry and the National Union of Production Cooperatives

Meeting with several female representatives of the Sixth Parliament

Complete Daily Log:

At around 8:30 PM Tehran time, air and missile attacks by the US and UK on Afghanistan began, with reports indicating that cities such as Kabul, Kandahar, Mazar-i-Sharif, and Jalalabad were bombed. The US and UK officially announced the start of the attack. Earlier in the day, a spokesperson for the Taliban stated that they were prepared to try [Osama] bin Laden, [the leader of al-Qaeda], if evidence was provided. Afghan radio was interrupted, and General [Pervez] Musharraf, [the President of Pakistan], made extensive changes among military commanders.

Last night in the city of Al Khobar in eastern Saudi Arabia, a bomb exploded, killing and injuring several foreign nationals, including one American and one British citizen. The ambiguity surrounding the cause of the Russian plane crash in the Black Sea has not been resolved, and Russia announced that [Vladimir] Putin, [the President of Russia], was informed by [George] Bush, [the President of the USA], moments before the attack began.

Mr. Hasan Salari Sharif Abadi, [a relative], came by. Due to his son's accident and the poor condition of pistachios, he has gone into debt. He asked that the [Exporters' Cooperative] of pistachios [from Rafsanjan] be told to provide him with a loan. Mr. [Gholamreza] Forouzan, [a member of the Tehran City Council], came. He spoke about the goals of the US military base in Incirlik, Turkey, citing a researcher but without providing evidence. He mentioned that experts appreciated your last Friday sermon, which helped clarify matters for the public.

Members of the [Board of Directors] of the House of Industry [and the National Union of Production Cooperatives] came and expressed concern about the current and future state of industry, stating that the reformist government has undermined the industrial development achieved during the Reconstruction period. They noted that industrialists today have come to recognize the value of your industrial programs. They requested that we approve policies in the Expediency Council to prevent the weakening of the industry.

In the evening, a group of female parliamentary representatives, including Fatemeh Rake’i, Fatemeh Haqiqatu-Joo, Akram Masouri-Manesh, Fatemeh Khatami, Hamideh Adalat, Tahereh Razazadeh, and Azam Naseri-Pour, visited. They reported on the activities of the women’s faction in parliament, criticized the government's neglect of women, praised the attention given to women's issues during the Reconstruction period, and requested that the Expediency Council expedite the consideration and approval of two bills regarding women that had been rejected by the Guardian Council. They expressed gratitude towards Fatih, [head of the Special Diseases Foundation], and Faizeh, [president of the Islamic Federation of Women’s Sports], for their institutional initiatives. I also provided explanations regarding Islam's views on the status of women.