Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – July 6, 2003

I stayed in my office last night. I started working early in the morning. The news of the start of the surgical operation to separate Laleh and Ladan—the Iranian twins who are conjoined at the head and have lived in this condition for 29 years—has wide coverage in the Iranian and global media. A 48-member surgical team from several countries is performing the operation at a hospital in Singapore, and they say it will take 45 hours. It is the first surgical operation of its kind. The vein supplying blood to their brains is shared and belongs to one of them, and for the other, they must construct a vein taken from her leg; it is highly thrilling, and they are reporting news moment by moment.

Mr. [Abdul Majid] Ma'adikhah, [the head of the Foundation for the History of the Islamic Revolution], came. We spoke about the foundation's building and current issues. He criticized the insults directed at Sunni elders on the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), especially under circumstances where unity is needed. Mr. [Ahmad] Taha, the former representative of Bukan, came. He sought assistance to prevent his disqualification in the upcoming elections and regarding his son's employment.

Mssrs. [Reza] Soleimani, [the Director-General of Public Relations of the Office of the Chairman of the Expediency Discernment Council], and [Hamzeh] Khalili from my office came. We spoke about a poetry book that Mr. Khalili has composed for the history of the eight years of the Holy Defense, and about compiling my works. In the afternoon, I performed the marriage ceremony for the daughter of [Mr. Seyyed Hassan Shah-Sahebi], one of the bodyguards.

Mr. [Mohammad Baqer] Qalibaf, the commander of NAJA [= Law Enforcement Force], came. He gave a report on the recent riots and the actions taken by the police. He believes he performed well and says almost all factions accept this. We held discussions regarding future plans and July 9 [= the anniversary of the attack on the Tehran University dormitory in 1999]. He introduces himself as an independent individual who is unaffiliated with either the right or left factions.

Last night in Ankara, 190 people were injured due to an explosion at a gas station during the unloading of a liquefied gas tanker. Yesterday, 11 Turkish military personnel were detained by the Americans in Iraqi Kurdistan, which has put a lot of pressure on Turkey, and the pleas and pressures for their release have not yielded a response so far. Today, there were demonstrations against the US in Turkey, and the Turkish media have called US policy detestable. Two or three days ago, a number of Turkish soldiers had also been killed by Kurds.

A British journalist and a Kurdish journalist have been killed in Iraq. Today, several Americans were also wounded in Iraq. In Basra, a doctor who had previously treated Saddam [Hussein] has been abducted, and a group of doctors have gone on strike and held demonstrations to protest the lack of security. [Tony] Blair, [the British Prime Minister], says the BBC has questioned his honesty. In Chechnya, four people were killed with the crash of a Russian helicopter.