Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – September 21, 2003

The director of the Army's Dar al-Quran, Mr. [Mahmoudreza] Zekavat, came with [Seyed Ali] Yathrebi, [a retired Army colonel], and Major [Mehdi] Soltani-Amadand. Mr. Yathrebi has rendered the Quran into poetry. We compared one of the verses with his poems; it became clear that he had omitted many points. I gave him a full set of the Rahnama Commentary, as well as two other people, so they could read it and add what had been left out. The major has also written a book on the music of the Quran and claims it contains original ideas. He is also a distinguished Quran reciter.

Mr. [Colonel Shahab al-Din] Shahbazi—an ex-POW who had been imprisoned in Iraq for ten years—came. He had spent 17 months in solitary confinement. He recounted his service record, one of whose positions was command of the Police Academy. He is now retired and teaches at Islamic Azad University. He spoke about the many tortures he endured during his captivity.

Mr. Ali Hashemi, secretary of the [Presidential] Headquarters for Combating Narcotics, came. He gave a report on the measures taken and the problems facing the work. He believes that it is practically impossible to reduce the number of addicts or the amount of trafficking, and that efforts should instead focus on preventing their increase. He said that recently Westerners have turned narcotics into pills, making smuggling easier and increasing the danger. He had brought proposals for the general policies of the Fourth Development Plan.

In the afternoon, the members of the headquarters organizing the Sacred Defense anniversary ceremonies came. Mr. [Alireza] Afshar gave a report. I also spoke about the greatness of the achievements of the Sacred Defense, the enemies' efforts to call them into question and distort them, and divine retribution against those who started the war.

In an attack by unidentified individuals on Abu Ghraib Prison in Iraq, several American soldiers were killed and wounded. Some Western newspapers have written that Saddam [Hussein], through intermediaries, has entered negotiations with the Americans to surrender, go into exile in [the country of] Belarus, and provide information about weapons of mass destruction.

The American Galileo spacecraft, according to plan after its previous 14-year journey, struck Jupiter's surface today at a speed of 170,000 kilometers and was destroyed. A sunflower plant in a hospital in Kordkuy has produced 130 sunflower blooms.