Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – May 10, 1999

I spent about two hours being interviewed by the Islamic Republic newspaper. I did not answer their important questions because they were mostly seeking to condemn the government’s cultural and foreign policies, as well as the state of the press.

In the afternoon, a group of managers of engineering and contracting companies came. They have problems with the Central Bank and the insurance companies regarding partnerships with foreign contractors who undertake projects through finance or buyback arrangements.

[Mr. Qazi Kbaam Bay], Mr. Samaranch’s deputy, the president of the International Olympic Committee, came. He is a Muslim and from Senegal. He reported that, under his supervision, a committee had been formed to strengthen the ethics of athletes and sports managers. He expressed satisfaction with the state of sports in Iran and promised that they would soon accept Iran’s representative on the committee. Our seat has been vacant since the Revolution. Fa’ezah came to complete a message she wants to send to Mrs. Marve Kavakçı, expressing support for her in the face of pressure from secularists in Turkey.

Yugoslavia has announced that it has begun withdrawing its military forces from Kosovo, but NATO does not consider the action sufficient and says that it must accept all five of NATO’s conditions. The President of the United States and some other NATO member countries have apologized to China over the accidental bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade. In China, people in several cities demonstrated against the United States and attacked the U.S. Embassy and consulates.

Today we had heavy showers in Tehran. The newspapers again focused on the issue of Mr. Karbaschi and the students’ sit-in in support of him and Mr. [Mohsen] Kadivar, keeping the matter in the spotlight, and are putting pressure on the judiciary and the Special Court for the Clergy, which is under the Leader’s authority.