Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – May 8, 2003

I went to Arak Mosque to participate in the funeral ceremony of the three brothers of Ayatollah [Syed Mahmoud Hashemi] Shahroudi who were martyred in the prisons of Saddam [Hussein].  They were arrested 25 years ago during the confrontation with the martyr [Syed Mohammad Baqer] Sadr, and until now there was no news about their fate.  Recently, when the prisons of Iraq were opened, it turned out that all of them have disappeared.  Thousands of people in Iraq have the same fate.  Mr. Shahroudi says, these days in Iraq, this is the prevailing situation in most families;  Because there are few families that have not been arrested in the 30 years of Baathist rule in Iraq.  Efat regularly goes to the Fatiha gatherings of other mourning Iraqi families.  Today in Najaf, the funeral of 35 martyrs of the 1991 Intifada was held with enthusiasm.  In the excavation of mass graves and cemeteries, traces of these martyrs are found. 
America has announced that it is negotiating with Uday and Qusay - Saddam's two sons - for their surrender. The quality of the negotiation is not known.  Rumor-like news about Saddam being alive and the tapes he sent and asking the remnants of the Baathists to fight against the invaders are also being spread.
Demonstrations were held in Baghdad and Basra against America.  In al-Amara [city], the demonstrations are wider.  Iraqi doctors have also demonstrated against the United States, which has appointed a person in charge of Iraq's health.  It was announced that a court in Iraq has been prepared to try the leaders of this country, but the judges said that America should not interfere in these courts.  It was announced that cholera has spread in the south of Iraq due to the pollution of the water and environment and the lack of attention of the occupiers. 
In Afghanistan, in the last 48 hours, an American military base has been attacked seven times.  The government has announced that the reconstruction is progressing slowly due to non-fulfillment of the obligations of the countries.  Today, only five percent of people use electricity, some of them get electricity from Iran and Tajikistan, and 50 percent of water supply facilities have been destroyed due to insecurity, and foreign aid has been cut off in several provinces. 
The United States has given a resolution to the [United Nations] Security Council to cancel the sanctions on Iraq.  The big headlines of the newspapers today are about the financial violations of Sedavasima, which was read yesterday in the investigation report in the parliament, which said that there are more than 500 billion tomans of financial violations and they asked to go to court.   It is bad for the leadership who have the banner of fighting corruption.