Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani's Diary - March 12, 1999 - The Berlin Conference Begins, Ushering in a New Chapter in Politics that Year

The Berlin Conference Begins, Ushering in a New Chapter in Politics that Year

Following the Ministry of Intelligence's statement declaring Sheikh Hadi Mervi's involvement and denying the reprimand of Mohammad Ali Ghodsmi, one of the suspects in the assassination of Saeed Hajarian, the then-Minister of Intelligence requested the then-Head of the Judiciary, who in turn assigned his First Deputy, Sheikh Hadi Mervi, to investigate the matter.

The aftermath of the final announcement of the election results in Khalkhal and Gachsaran, and the annulment of the elections in Damavand by the Guardian Council.

The start of the Berlin Conference, which itself became a new story in the political landscape that year.

In the initial results announced for the 6th Majlis elections in the Khalkhal and Kouhsar constituency, Mr. Kaykavous Khakhnazhad was declared the people's representative with 269 more votes than Seyed Motar Kazemi. However, on March 9, 1999, the Guardian Council annulled 21 ballot boxes, paving the way for Mr. Kazemi's entry into the Majlis.

This incident caused numerous incidents and tensions in the city of Khalkhal. The matter did not end there, and on August 17, 1999, the 6th Majlis rejected Seyed Motar Kazemi's credentials, preventing him from entering the Majlis.

I was at home, and my main work was the final editing of the 1982 memoirs [after the crisis]. In the evening, I felt severe fatigue, accompanied by fever and chills.

In response to [Mr. Ali Younesi], the Minister of Intelligence's request to the President to appoint a team to investigate the perpetrator of the reprimand of one of the assassination suspects, Mr. [Seyed Mahmoud] Hashemi Shahroudi, [Head of the Judiciary], issued a decree addressed to Mr. [Hadi] Mervi, [First Deputy of the Judiciary] to investigate; because the Ministry of Intelligence's statement had mentioned the discovery of the truth for Mr. Mervi.

With the announcement of the change in the representative of the people of Khalkhal, due to the annulment of 21 ballot boxes, last night a group of people took to the streets in unrest and damaged some government offices and revolutionary institutions, accusing the right-wing faction of acting with malice; similar to what they did in Gachsaran. In Damavand, where the elections were also annulled, a group of people protested, but they did not resort to destruction or unrest. In most Friday prayers today, there were harsh attacks on moral and Islamic deviations.

The Council of Europe, a body under the European Parliament, has temporarily suspended Russia's membership in the Council of Europe due to human rights violations in Chechnya, and has made reinstatement conditional on reforms. Reactions to the conviction of Nawaz Sharif, [former Prime Minister of Pakistan] are varied; most consider it unjust, and some are satisfied that he was not sentenced to death.

The Turkish government, which sought to amend the constitution to allow Mr. [Süleyman] Demirel to become president again, was defeated in parliament, raising the possibility of a period of instability.

In Berlin, a conference organized by the German Green Party to examine the situation in Iran after the elections, some of the speakers, who were Iranian leftists and liberals, were met with opposition and shouts from anti-revolutionaries abroad, revealing that there are significant differences within the anti-Islamic revolution. During the afternoon and evening, children and relatives were here.