Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – May 23, 1981

The news of the victory and the capture of the Gamishan hills, reported by the radio, was the good news of the morning. Nader Iraqi came with his friend, and they arranged appointments with some of the officials of the Physical Education Organization. They also came and spoke about Mr. Davoudi’s resignation, which was due to his internal problems and Mr. Rajaei’s lack of support. They were asking for greater support so that the Imam’s line could be consolidated within this organization.

We had a meeting on the regulations. There was not much progress. At noon, Mr. Mohammadi, a retired judge, came. He said that Mr. Beheshti had still not given a response to the investigation regarding his referral [to a judicial position]. What was surprising was that, despite the great need for Muslim judges, they had kept him waiting for several weeks. The criticism directed at our friends on the Supreme Judicial Council for their lethargy is justified; they are not doing enough to activate the judiciary.

Mr. Haqpanah, from the Army’s Political-Ideological Department, came and requested that some of the representatives go to the Army to give speeches. It was decided that I would help.

In the afternoon, I had an interview with television about the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization, and spoke about the reason for their deviation, which was the eclecticism of the original leaders. Then I had an interview with the Islamic Republic newspaper.

Hossein Agha Marashi came with Mr. Mahmoudian—the father of one of the suspects in the plot to forge a document at the Central Bank concerning two hundred million tomans for the purchase of weapons. His son had been arrested and was remorseful, and they were asking me for forgiveness on his behalf. I said that if he told the truth to the people in an interview, I was not interested in seeking personal revenge. Four people had been detained in connection with this matter. He said that the deputy head of accounting had forged the document, signed it with his left hand, made 19 photocopies, and distributed them with the help of others.

The brother of the martyred Shiroudi and his colleague, pilot Mirzaei, came and spoke about the possibility of an internal conspiracy behind his martyrdom. They related a suspicious contact, the night before his martyrdom, involving two colonels and Bani-Sadr, and claimed that the direction of the bullet fire was not from the front, where the enemy was, but from the side. They asked me to support the Imam’s-line forces in the Army.

At night, we were guests at a gathering of clerical friends at the home of Mr. Moghaddasian. There, we heard on television the news of the exposure of the “Pars” sabotage group and Mr. Reyshahri’s interview. It was interesting. Some of the friends complained about the Judicial Council’s leniency in reforming the judiciary.