Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi - December 11, 2002

Members of the General Congress Headquarters for the Commemoration of Allameh Tabataba'i expect me, as an interpreter of the Quran, to go to Tabriz for the opening of the Congress. I also spoke about his philosophical, social, and interpretative services and his history of cooperation with Maktab-e Tashayyo [Magazine].

The report of Messrs. Alizadeh and Mortazavi, Head of the Judiciary and Press Judge, regarding the polling case of the Ayandeh Institute.

Iran has also accepted that the ship that collided with a US aircraft carrier two or three days ago was Iranian, but it was purely accidental.

Full Diary Entry:

Members of the General Congress Headquarters for the Commemoration of Allameh [Seyyed Mohammad Hossein] Tabataba'i [Tabrizi], on the occasion of his centenary birthday, came. Messrs. [Seyyed Mehdi] Khamoushi, Dr. Heidari, and the Secretary of the Headquarters explained and said that among his numerous virtues, the focus is intended to be on his Quranic and interpretive services. For this reason, they expect me, as an interpreter of the Quran, to go to Tabriz for the opening of the Congress. I also spoke about his philosophical, social, and interpretive services and his history of cooperation with Maktab-e Tashayyo [Magazine] and said I would consider the trip favorably.

[Messrs. Abdulaziz Dolati Bakhshan and Mohammad Sharif Fotouhi], the representatives of Saravan and Chabahar in Baluchestan in the Fifth Parliament, came and said that they had helped the Second Khordad Front in the Fifth Parliament, but today they have concluded that it caused damage to the country and themselves, because they were left out of the Sixth Parliament and the country was deprived of the speed of development/reconstruction. As an example, they spoke about their province, where no new projects were started during this period. The important projects of the Reconstruction era, such as the Kerman-Zahedan and Chabahar railway, the [transfer of] water from Zabol to Zahedan and Hamoun, the agricultural development of Sistan, the development of the eastern Jāz Mooriān, the development of Gwatar, and the agricultural and industrial project on the Pakistan border, etc., have remained incomplete. They requested help to remove electoral obstacles in the upcoming elections.

Mr. [Ali] Ghanbari, the representative of [Ardal, Farsan, and Kohrang] in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, came and asked me to follow up on the completion of the Bazft-Masjed Soleyman road, as well as supplying CNG gas to Bazft and increasing the province's water share, and he apologized for his absence during my trip to the province.

In the afternoon, Messrs. [Abbasali] Alizadeh and [Saeed] Mortazavi, Head of the Judiciary [of Tehran Province] and Press Judge, came. They gave explanations regarding the polling case of the Ayandeh Institute. They said that the polling was meant to achieve the goals of Westerners and was for opinion-making, and the institute had no legal validity. They confessed, and admitted that the Ayandeh Institute, whose board members are Messrs. [Hossein Ali] Ghazian, [Abbas] Abdi, and [Alireza] Alavitabar, and whose current managing director is Abdi's wife, [Ms. Samira Kalhor], had repeatedly received money from foreigners and provided them with confidential state information, and they confessed to this. Abdi wrote a four-page letter to Mr. Shahroudi, [Head of the Judiciary], stating that if he is not convicted, he is ready to confess to his political mistakes and separate from the Mosharekat Party, but they do not intend to accept his request. They are also summoning Mr. [Abdullah] Ramazanzadeh, [Government Spokesperson], due to confidential documents that went from him to the Ayandeh Institute. They said that three [research] centers—"Gallup," "Zogby," and "VM"—had contracts with them for obtaining information.

They saw a collection of US Embassy documents at Mr. [Abbas] Abdi's house that he had taken home at the time of the embassy takeover and had not been disclosed. Mr. [Seyyed Mohammad] Mousavi Khoeiniha, [Leader of the Muslim Students Following the Line of the Imam during the hostage crisis], called and, to lighten Abdi's burden, claimed that those documents belonged to him. They said that a letter was found among Abdi's documents in which he wrote to Mr. Khatami, [President], in an arrogant and demanding tone, protesting after Khatami had praised me in his [trip] speech in Rafsanjan, and Mr. Khatami had justified his action in the margin of the letter from a passive position. Mr. Alizadeh explained about Nasser [Vaez] Tabasi's trial next Sunday and said there is no significant issue and he will be acquitted.

It was announced today that a ship carrying 15 Scud missiles was seized off the coast of Yemen by Spanish warships and handed over to US forces. The missiles apparently came from North Korea and the ship was loaded as a cement carrier, or perhaps from China; but the Yemeni government says the missiles belong to it and has protested to the US and Spain. Iran has also gradually accepted that the ship that collided with a US aircraft carrier two or three days ago was Iranian, but it was purely accidental.

Today, there were anti-war demonstrations against Iraq in 100 US cities and many European cities, and Kofi Annan, [UN Secretary-General], has joined the protestors against the US on the issue of misusing the Iraq report.

Good rains continue in the country.