Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – September 28, 1982

I was at home all day. Mr. President led the Eid prayer. Mr. [Seyyed Abdolkarim] Mousavi Ardabili came and spoke about his trip to Mazandaran, saying that things were going well and that they had no major issues; he was satisfied. He also said that he had seen Mr. [Seyyed Mohammad Sadegh] Lavasani with the Imam, where he had been interceding on behalf of [Seyyed Mehdi] Mahdavi, who had been sentenced to death in the Qotbzadeh coup case. Mr. Abbas Safarian came, partly on personal business and partly to consult about accepting the position of chargé d'affaires in Gabon.

Mr. [Mohammad Javad Ardeshir] Larijani came and offered his views on the Islamic Azad University that I had proposed. In the afternoon, Dr. [Abdollah] Jasbi came, and we consulted on launching the Islamic Azad University. I asked the Prime Minister to deposit some money into the account, and I asked the Foundation of the Oppressed to provide a location, and we agreed to start as quickly as possible.

Ahmad Agha came, and we discussed the interviews of people such as Mr. [Taher] Ahmadzadeh, Khosrow Qashqai, and [Ahmad] Mufti-Zadeh. Both he and I believe that such people, who are willing to give interviews, should be granted some leniency by waiving the implementation of their final sentences. It was decided that he would bring the matter up with the Imam. I asked him to request that the Imam allocate some funds for the Islamic Azad University's budget. I gave him the letter from the Cultural Revolution Headquarters, which had sought a solution to prevent the expulsion of students with leftist affiliations, so that he could present it to the Imam.

Today, news arrived that Abu al-Walid, the operations chief and an important member of the central council of the Palestinian Fatah organization in Lebanon, had been assassinated. It is significant news, and we must wait to see its consequences.