Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – December 21, 1998

At four o'clock in the morning, I woke up with an alarm clock for suhoor. I turned on the pressure cooker and the samovar. I read the Quran and prayed. At five o'clock, Kazem woke up and prepared breakfast.

At nine o'clock in the morning, we went to the Martyr Motahari school for the Fatiha ceremony of the late [Mohammed Taqi] Philosofi. One of the scholars who was with me, referring to the decision and action of Ayatollah [Syed Hossein] Boroujerdi, regarding the announcement of Eid al-Fitr at 3:00 p.m., criticized the way the House of Leaders acted regarding the month of Ramadan and said that it would have been better if they had made the second announcement earlier.

I went to my office. Mr. [Abd al-Majid] Maadikhah, [Chairman of the Revolutionary History Foundation] came. He gave a report on his trip to Beirut, which was unsuccessful, and there was a discussion about solving the problem of the construction of the History Foundation building and solving the problem of the surface water channel that passes through the ground. He put forward an unfinished proposal regarding how to deal with the current wave of freedom.

Mr. [Mohammed] Ashrafi Esfahani came. He criticizes the way the leadership office works regarding the announcement of the holy month of Ramadan. He applied for a job in the [Assembly of Expediency] and consulted for participating in the council elections and expressed concern about the results of the [Assembly of Experts] elections.

Mr. Timsar [Abdullah] Najafi, [the head of the general information protection office of the General Command and] the official of the Foreign Prisoners Commission [Administration] came. The results of the long negotiations with the Iraqis said that out of the 22,000 prisoners claimed by the Iraqis, after the mass release and explanations about the many refugees, their claim is about 2,200, as opposed to the 2,600 prisoners claimed by us, who are mostly prisoners with documents.

I was in my office until four o'clock. Efat called and informed me about my message about the additional 10,000 pilgrims that I had received from Amir Abdullah last year and this year they said that it was the same year, he was told by Amir Abdullah's wife and today Mr. [Mohammadreza] Nouri [Shahrudi], our ambassador, informed that the Amir has agreed to accept 10,000 pilgrims this year as well. [Foreign Affairs Minister] Mr. [Sidkamal] Kharazi had not accepted it in the negotiation with him before. I told them to inform the Hajj headquarters to act soon. I came home after breaking the fast. Fati had prepared iftar and the children were gathered. Watermelon and nuts were also provided for Yalda night.