Akbar Hashemi's memories - November 9, 2002

In the meeting of the assembly, the answer to the interpretative question of the judiciary regarding the fine for smuggled alcoholic beverages was given

The wave of opposition to the death sentence of Mr. Aghajari has risen and Ayatollah Montazeri has also made a statement against them.  The judiciary is under pressure.

Full text of the newspaper:

In the meeting of the [expediency detection] forum, the answer to the interpretive question of the judiciary regarding the penalty for smuggled alcoholic beverages was given.  Some of the judges have had a problem with the prescribed fine due to its valuelessness from the Shari'i point of view.  The assembly commented that in the case of goods that have no value, their customary value is the evaluation criterion. The general policies of the housing sector were strengthened.

After the meeting Mr. [Mohammed Javad] Irvani, [Member of Expediency Assessment Committee] came. He brought a book he wrote about the performance of construction jihad and criticized the elimination of jihad and explained about the mistake of the government's selected group's theory to deal with the Petropars case.  I worked in my office until four o'clock in the afternoon and came home to break the fast. 

The wave of opposition to the death sentence of Mr. [Hashem] Aghajari has risen and Ayatollah Montazeri has also made a statement against them.  Judiciary is under pressure and [Mohsen] Saghagara, [political activist and journalist], in an interview with Counter-Revolutionary Azadi Radio, considered the leadership somehow related to the issue of press closure and trials.

The global debate over the resolution [1441] of the [UN] Security Council regarding the [disarmament] of Iraq is hot. The United States believes that in case of non-cooperation with the [weapons] inspectors, its hand is open to use force, and China, Russia and France have announced that in that case the council should give an opinion.  The initial news said that Iraq accepted and did not use the one-week deadline, but again it was reported that they are examining the text of the resolution and [Tony Blair], the British Prime Minister, threatened Iraq with a sharp and harsh tone.  

In Florence, Italy, the Globalization Summit is coming up, and at the same time, tens of thousands of people who oppose war and globalization from all over the world have gathered there and are demonstrating against war and globalization, and they have occupied the office of the Caterpillar company in protest against the use of Caterpillar bulldozers in the destruction of Palestinian homes.  In the reports, the number of participants in the demonstration was mentioned as half a million people and there were many slogans against America.  

In Afghanistan, armed conflicts have increased in the north and center and have trapped the country in insecurity.  Despite the restrictions imposed by the Israeli government, 150,000 people participated in Friday prayers in Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem yesterday.