Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – April 6, 1999

The United States has ordered the deployment of Apache helicopters and 2,000 paratroopers to the Balkans, a step toward turning the war into a ground operation. [Slobodan] Milošević, [President of Yugoslavia], has declared a unilateral ceasefire for the Eid holiday. The Libyan government has handed over the two suspects in the downing of the Pan Am aircraft to the court in The Hague, to be tried under the law of the place where the aircraft crashed; some of the sanctions have also been lifted for three months.

Mr. Akhavi Mohammad, [Hassan] Marashi, and Ali Hashemi came. They said they had met with Mr. [Morteza] Moqtadaei, [Prosecutor General], regarding Mr. Karbaschi’s case. He said that he had drafted the rejection of Mr. Karbaschi’s appeal and had not yet signed it, but believed it would be in Karbaschi’s interest for the appellate ruling to be carried out, since there was a risk that the sentence could be increased if the case were referred to another court. They had not accepted this and he said that he had sent the case to the Tehran Justice Department, although it was not supposed to be announced. However, this afternoon, the Public Relations Office of the Justice Department officially announced the rejection of the appeal, which is inconsistent with Mr. Moqtadaei’s statements.

A group of academics came and expressed their readiness to cooperate with the government and the Expediency Council by presenting useful proposals and plans; they have established an institute for this purpose. Mr. [Mohammad Hossein] Rafiei, Friday Prayer leader of Taleqan, came. He criticized the unfinished Shahid Araghi University in Taleqan and said that his son, who had been an influential commander during the war, had presented a new innovative design for a free-fall parachute. With the Leader’s support, the Armed Forces were supposed to cooperate, but because of their limited cooperation and problems with the banks, he had suffered losses and the project was now stalled. He asked for assistance in resolving the problem.

In the afternoon, the brothers and children of the late Mr. [Mohammad Taqi] Falsafi, the preacher, came to express their thanks. Hossein, his son, criticized the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting and the organizations affiliated with the Leader for failing to provide the necessary cooperation in honoring Mr. Falsafi. [Mohammad Shariatmadari], Minister of Commerce, came. He was upset about the government price increases and worried that the amount of wheat approved for purchase from abroad would not be sufficient because of the decline in wheat production caused by the drought.

Faezeh came. She reported that the Revolutionary Court had ordered the closure of Zan newspaper and said that she was considering publishing Karbaschi’s Ham-Mihan newspaper in its place, or shutting it down completely starting tomorrow, or publishing tomorrow’s issue and then saying goodbye. I said that if no formal ruling had been issued, they could publish tomorrow’s issue and make up for the mistake of publishing Farah Pahlavi’s message, as well as provide an explanation regarding the cartoon in question.