Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – December 18, 1983

I went to the assembly early in the morning. I saw the received reports and went to the public session of the parliament. Imam's words yesterday overshadowed everything. Some representatives withdrew their questions from the ministers. A group of people were signing a letter with the title "In support of the Imam's statements". In that letter, Mr. Montazeri's statements were also mentioned along with Imam's statements. Some people disagreed and said that Mr. Montazeri's recent criticisms are included in the Imam's criticisms, and it is not right for us to distort the content of the Imam's words in this way. Although they were right, it is necessary to preserve Mr. Montazeri's credibility. I also thought that only the Imam's name should be used by everyone to sign and this discussion would end. This opinion offended some people. They had also informed Mr. Montazeri. They had hurt them too. All the time of the parliament was devoted to the draft of the conscription system. The letter was announced with one hundred and fifty signatures.

In the evening, I had a meeting with a group of commanders of different divisions of the IRGC and spoke for them. The central council of the [Islamic Republic] party had a meeting to [discuss] the upcoming elections. The majority of votes in the Central Council belong to the so-called conservatives, and the extremists are in the minority. In the evening, the arbitration council of the party had a meeting. We had various discussions around the situation of Mr. Montazeri's house and the need for greater understanding between him and the party and preventing the effect of spraying - which is used for division - and Mr. Rabbani's meeting with the imam and other things.