Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi - February 16, 2000 Hashemi's account of the reason for the left's election smear campaign: They are upset about my presence!

The Interior Ministry's decision to circumvent the Guardian Council's resolution

Contact from the Leader's office with the Minister of Interior

The book that Mohsen Hashemi brought to his father

Today, there were no scheduled meetings, and I spent most of my time on tasks and reading reports. At noon, Mohsen brought the book "Truths and Expediencies," which is a collection of my interviews with Mr. [Masoud] Safiri. It contains important points about the history of the revolution, both before and after its victory. He also informed me that Faezah had an accident last night; her car hit a curb and was damaged.

In the afternoon, Mr. [Mohammad Hassan] Tulaei, the head of the Election Supervisory Board for Tehran Province, called to say that today at the Ministry of Interior, they decided to somehow circumvent the Guardian Council's resolution regarding manual counting of votes. Dr. [Abdullah] Jasbi also expressed concern about this matter; I followed up, but it was not confirmed. Mr. [Seyed Ali Asghar] Hojjati from the Leader's office said he spoke with the Minister of Interior, who did not confirm this and stated that they would implement the resolution.

Election propaganda reached its peak today. The left is very upset about their balance being disrupted by my presence in the elections and is engaging in superficial and illogical smear campaigns that are not in the country's interest.