Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – March 28, 1989

I arrived at the parliament at half past eight. In the reports, the issue of Ayatollah Montazeri has received worldwide attention, but it is unclear to them. Mr. [Mohammed Ali] Nazaran [Head of the POW Commission] came for the affairs of the POWs and the work of the Consultative Commission of the Supreme Defense Council. Mr. [Mohammed Hossein] Malek Zadegan [Commander of the Army Navy] came and gave a report on the sea voyage of the naval students who have been to and from South Africa. He is happy about the success of the trip and was allowed to perform the maneuver. I was supposed to participate.

Mr. [Abbasali] Omid Zanjani [Vice Chairman of the Judicial and Legal Affairs Commission of the Parliament] came. Reported the trip to Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia in connection with the issue of the Satanic Verses book. He believes that he was very successful. I expected him to ask about Mr. Montazeri's issue; did not

Mr. Ebrahim Amini called from Qom and gave the report of his meeting with Mr. Montazeri after the Imam's letter arrived. Mr. [Qorban Ali] Derri [Najafabadi] also called and said the same thing.

Mr. Saeed al-Zhakrin came. He gave a report on the administrative work of the parliament and requested for transfer. He believes that he will not be able to work here after I leave the parliament. I said that it is not yet clear that I will go.

Mr. [Hossein] Ebrahimi came in charge of Afghan affairs. He brought the list of Mujahideen's weapons needs and asked for funds. He said that the heads of the eight [Shiite coalition] are ready for the Sunni groups to cooperate with the ruling movement if they do not want to pay their rights. He believed that [Dr. Mohammad] Najibullah's [Afghan President] agents would put up a lot of resistance.

Mr. [Gholamabas] Zairi, [Abbas] Abbasi and [Gholamreza] Fadaei, representatives of Bandar Abbas and Arak, came and asked about Mr. Montazeri's issue. Mr. Nazaran and Ebrahimi had also asked, and it is strange that, except for Mr. Nazaran, no one expressed their displeasure.

In the evening [Mr. Mohammad Ali Najafi] the Minister of Education and Science came together with the outstanding mathematics students who participated in the Olympiad competition. I spoke to them. Our new ambassador arrived in Poland. Consulted for his new job. Mr. Shahmoradi and his colleagues in IRGC Industries came to transfer to the Atomic Energy Organization and spoke.

Ahmad Agha called and read the text of Mr. Montazeri's letter and Imam's answer; He was happy about the partial solution of the problem that is going to be announced. With Imam's answer, the bitterness of the issue has been reduced. I talked to Ayatollah Khamenei on the phone about this. I came home At night, Mr. Mousavi Ardabili called and expressed his satisfaction with the partial solution of the problem.

At the end of the night, Mr. [Hossein] Marashi, the governor of Kerman, came. The report of the meeting of the governors gave that they were justified in explaining the reasons for the dismissal of Mr. Montazeri based on the Imam's letter and at the end of the meeting they understood that the Imam gave a kind answer by accepting his resignation. They have agreed that the contents of the meeting will be ignored.