Akbar Hashemi's Memoirs - December 3, 2002

Mr. Masih Mohajeri's report on the five-member delegation's meeting with Qom Marja's (Sources of Emulation). Some complained about the Leader's office, saying their opinions are ignored. Mr. Safi [Golpayegani] said that when several veiled women went to the Majlis, he proposed to the Leader that they should be prevented. The office promised and even said they would prevent them from meeting the Leader while veiled, but they did not follow through.

Full Daily Note: Mr. Masih Mohajeri, [Advisor to the President and Managing Editor of the Jomhouri Eslami newspaper], came. He reported on the meeting of the five-member delegation [Messrs. Ahmad Ahmadi, Mohammad Ja'fari Gilani, Masih Mohajeri, Mohammad Hassan Rahimian, and Mohammad Taqi Rahbar] with the Qom Marja's, which was held to address the deviations of the Second of Khordad extremists. He said some suggested the Leader should take the initiative, while others, like Mr. [Hossein] Nouri Hamedani, spoke of readiness to take action. Some complained about the Leader's office, saying their views are not being considered, and Mr. [Lotfollah] Safi [Golpayegani] stated that when several veiled women attended the Majlis, he proposed to the Leader that they should be stopped. The office promised and even said they would prevent them from meeting the Leader while veiled, but they failed to do so. Mr. Nouri said establishing contact with the Leader is difficult for them.

[Mr. Masih Mohajeri] said that recently, even among insiders, the Leader's failure to confront political and cultural corruption is criticized, and some explicitly say this indicates a lack of management. He said he told this to Mr. [Seyyed Asghar Mir] Hejazi, [Deputy of the Leader's Office], but the latter suggested he might be voicing his own opinion through the mouths of others. He said that two weeks before the issuance of the verdict against Mr. [Hashem] Aghajari, he and a group of friends warned the Leader's office and Mr. [Seyyed Mahmoud Hashemi] Shahroudi personally that the death sentence was not advisable. Mr. Shahroudi replied that he would be ashamed before Lady Fatimah (PBUH) if he did not punish the insult to the Infallible Imams.

Sheikh Qodrat Ali Khani, [representative of Bu'in Zahra and Avaj], came. He said a severe disagreement erupted between Messrs. [Mehdi] Karroubi and [Seyyed Mohammad] Khatami over the bill on the President's powers. Mr. Karroubi told him and Mr. [Eshaq] Jahangiri that he would oppose the bill and intended to tell Mr. Khatami that if he could not get rid of the 'Mosharekat' (Participation Front) bad entourage, he had better resign; but he was advised not to say such a thing. Finally, in a session held at Mr. Khatami's house, they agreed that the bill on the President's powers should be revised. The disagreements were resolved. He said that regarding the university incidents, some managers of the Ministry of Science and the Mosharekat faction were stirring up trouble behind the students. He asked for my opinion on the bills. I told him to try to reach an understanding with the Guardian Council and avoid bringing them to the Expediency Discernment Council [EDC]. He asked about the Aghajari verdict. I said I did not agree with the death penalty but did not want to weaken the Judiciary.

Mr. [Qorbanali] Dorri Najafabadi, [Head of the Administrative Justice Court], came. He is dissatisfied with Mr. [Hashemi] Shahroudi, [Head of the Judiciary], and the Leader regarding the verdict issued in the [Shahram] Jazayeri case and does not consider the ruling to be fair.

Today, the first public hearing of the trial of Messrs. [Abbas] Abdi, [Hossein Ali] Ghazian, and [Alireza] Alavitabar was held. They are accused of having unhealthy relations with foreigners and selling information detrimental to the country and beneficial to enemies. A group of Mosharekat representatives who arrived late and could not find space to attend the court criticized that the public nature of the trial was not serious! Among them was [Mohammad Reza] Khatami, [Secretary-General of the Islamic Iran Participation Front].

I was the Leader's guest for Iftar. He said that the handling of university rioters must be serious and mentioned that he had given warnings to the President and the Minister of Science. Regarding the government's bills, he said the Guardian Council must be left free to exercise its opinion, and he was interested to know what the EDC was doing. We also discussed the situation in Iraq. UN weapons inspectors began inspecting Saddam's palaces today.