Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – April 10, 1999

Early in the morning, Faezeh came. She gave me an account of her plans for confronting the injustices of the Judiciary. I went to my office. Mr. [Abbas Vaez] Tabasi, [Custodian of the Astan Quds Razavi], came. He made a direct proposal that I prepare myself to take on executive responsibility in the country, and said that, after all the thought and discussion we had given the matter, we saw no other way. I replied that, after two terms as President, I had firmly decided not to return to executive work and to leave the way open for new forces, unless a necessity arose, and I did not yet feel that such a necessity existed. He expressed dissatisfaction with the Revolutionary Court’s action against Zan newspaper and the irresponsible controversy surrounding it.

At the meeting of the Expediency Council, discussion began on the general policies of the Third Development Plan, which had been prepared by the government and referred to us by the Leader. Four of its provisions were approved, and we appointed a special commission to review and revise the proposals. News was also given of the assassination of Major General [Ali] Sayyad Shirazi.

During the meeting, they informed me that Effat wanted to speak with one of the members of the [Assembly of] Experts and lodge a complaint regarding the issue involving Faezeh. Mr. [Ghorbanali] Dorri-Najafabadi left and spoke to her by telephone. After the meeting, Mr. [Mohammad] Yazdi, [Head of the Judiciary], came. He was embarrassed and wanted to justify his action in some way, which I did not accept. I said that raising [the issue of the closure of Zan newspaper] in the Friday sermon, particularly in that tone, was inappropriate and would have many harmful consequences, and that they needed to make amends. I asked them to calm the controversy and settle the matter quickly so that Faezeh and our family would not suffer any further distress.

Mr. [Ebrahim] Amini came and spoke about finding his replacement in the Secretariat of the [Assembly of] Experts. It was decided that the Presiding Board would hold a meeting soon. He complained that during the Assembly of Experts meeting, when criticisms were made against him, we had not defended him.

In the afternoon, [Mr. Ali Abdolalizadeh], Minister of Housing [and Urban Development], and his deputies came. They gave a report on their performance and said that the construction sector was not experiencing a recession because of its high consumption of construction materials. They expressed their appreciation to me for having saved the country from shortages of construction materials.

Mr. Farouk Qaddoumi [Abu al-Lutf], head of the Political Department of the Palestine Liberation Organization, came. He gave a report on the current state of the Palestinian issue and said that the European Union had adopted a resolution to recognize an independent Palestinian state after one year of negotiations with Israel.