Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – April 16, 1981

At eight o'clock in the morning, I went to Parliament. After reviewing the reports, Mr. Latif Safari, the representative of Eslamabad-e Gharb, came to my office and spoke at length about issues there. His main objective was to complain that officials do not use locals for regional affairs. The Baluch, the Bakhtiari, and others also say this; the counter-revolution is working on this as well.

Then I gave an interview to Kayhan Varzeshi magazine. They also feel that the Islamic Republic has not paid necessary attention to sports. Mr. Mohammadi Khomeini, my study partner in Qom—who was a judge and whom they have retired—came and had a complaint. He is a good man; he ought to return to the judiciary.

The heads of education from all districts of Tehran came and emphasized that we should expedite the approval of the Restructuring and Parties bill so they can counter the counter-revolution in schools. In the afternoon, I gave an interview to Rah-e Zeynab magazine and the organizers of the Revolution Exhibition on the occasion of the anniversary of Martyr Motahhari's martyrdom.

Then Mr. Ali Eslami (Pahlavi), son of Shahpur Alireza [Pahlavi], came together with the representative of Minoodasht, Mr. Hosseini. At that time, he had broken off from the Pahlavi family. Apparently, he has become a good Muslim. His remarks were interesting. He owns three villages in Turkmen Sahra with six hundred hectares of land, and according to his own statements and Mr. Hosseini's, the farmers are satisfied with him and want him to visit the area. Since the revolution, he has not gone to the region, and the villagers have paid him a share. He was a bit concerned and said he wants to finish his studies and earn his living through personal work. He has just returned from Paris. His mother is in Paris. He was asking for permission to go to the region; I said there was no objection.

At night, we had a meeting at Shahid Motahhari School at the invitation of the Supreme Council of [Islamic] Propaganda. Messrs. Meshkini, Khamenei, Mahdavi Kani, Bahonar, Beheshti, Ma'adikhah, Emami Kashani, and Haqqani were present. In order to produce filmed lessons explaining Islamic teachings and key topics to make them available to interested individuals, topics were proposed and everyone chose a topic; I [chose] "Philosophy of History." We had objections regarding the methodology and underperformance of the Dispute Resolution Committee, which we expressed to Mr. Mahdavi [Kani].