Akbar Hashemi's Memoirs - January 12, 2002

Controversy over Hayat-Nou cartoon

Mr. Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, the Foreign Minister of Kuwait, and a group of ministers and their managers came. He said, "If Saddam [Hussein, President of Iraq] does not step down, war is inevitable and Saddam will be defeated quickly." He denied the news of the Arab leaders' request for Saddam's step down and said, "America assures us that it has no ill intentions towards Iran." He asked me to tell him if I had any opinion about America. I said, "We are neutral in the war and we insist that no harm befall the Iraqi people, and there should be serious doubts about America's good intentions, and I have already said that America must prove its good intentions by releasing Iranian assets."

Full text of the daily:

Across Iran, seminaries were closed in protest against the Hayat-e-Nou cartoon, and they usually held marches, speeches, resolutions, and statements, which were met with severe attacks on the Khordadis, especially the Partisan Party. In Qom, Mr. [Seyyed Mohammad] Khatami, [the President], was also attacked a lot, and they called for his resignation. Ayatollah Meshkini was supposed to give a speech to the gathering at the Fayziyeh School, but he did not come due to illness, and Mr. [Reza] Ostadari spoke instead. The Tehran market is also scheduled to be closed tomorrow.

In the parliament, Mr. Seyyed Hadi Khamenei, [the editor-in-chief of Hayat-e-Nou], expressed deep concern about the incident and cried in his speech before the order was issued, saying that it was the worst day of his life and that he wished he had died during the time of the tyrant. Mr. [Mohammad] Naimipour, [Member of the Tehran Assembly and a member of the Participation Front], on the contrary attacked the protesters, and Mr. [Seyed Mohammad Hassan] Abu Torabi, [Member of the Qazvin Assembly], answered him. Mr. [Mehdi] Karroubi, [Speaker of the Parliament], condemned the newspaper’s main author, but said that Mr. Hadi Khamenei was and is a loyalist of the Imam and it should not be thought that he wanted such a thing.

Messrs. [Mohammad] Jafari Gilani, [Head of the Islamic Propaganda Office in Qom], Taha Hashemi [Member of the Board of Directors of the Propaganda Office], and Mousavi, Jafari’s deputy, came. They said that a group of members of the Propaganda Office Board, headed by Mr. [Mohieddin] Fazel Esfahani [Harandi], had written a letter to the Leader, complaining about Mr. Jafari, and had said that if he stayed, they would resign. They criticized them and Mr. Fazel personally. Mr. Jafari, in turn, pointed out their weaknesses in a letter to the leadership.

Mr. [Taha] Hashemi said that an article was written on a website attributed to the Mojahedin of the Revolution about the Hayat-e-Nou [newspaper] cartoon, which shows that it was a planned act. It can be gathered from the content of the article that they wanted to say that the conservative powers, especially the judiciary, are destroying the thoughts and plans of the Imam, but with the reaction that has occurred in front of them, they justify that it is not a caricature of the Imam at all.

Mr. Hassan Vaezi, [Secretary of the Cultural and Social Commission of the Expediency Discernment Assembly] came. He praised the Friday sermon in which I exposed the contradictions and problems of America. He consulted on accepting the deputy support of the Assembly commissions instead of Mr. [Seyed Mohammad] Jahrami.
Messrs. Bani Najjar and Sarmadi came. They gave a progressive report on the absorption of carbon fiber production technology. Construction began in the government and a Russian scientist is helping. These fibers have the ability to withstand temperatures of 2,400 degrees Celsius. Only a limited number of countries have this technology and they do not sell it. They said that Mohsen, years ago [during the war], was able to bring a few hundred kilograms from Germany to produce missiles. They asked me to tell [Mr. Ali Shamkhani], the Minister of Defense, to help more.
In the afternoon, Mr. [Reza] Ardakanian, [Deputy Minister of Energy for Water Affairs], came. He said, Turkmenistan, after learning about your trip to Sarakhs and visiting the Dosti Dam, quickly removed the obstacles on the orders of Mr. [Safar Murad] Niyazov, [President of Turkmenistan]. The visit program was discussed.

[Mr. Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah], the Foreign Minister of Kuwait, and a group of his ministers and administrators came. He said, if Saddam [Hussein, President of Iraq] does not step down, war is inevitable and Saddam will be defeated quickly. He denied the news of the Arab leaders’ request for Saddam’s step down and said, America assures us that it has no ill intentions towards Iran. He asked me to tell him if I have any opinion about America. I said, we are neutral in the war and we insist that no harm befall the Iraqi people, and there should be serious doubts about America's goodwill, and I have already said that America must prove its goodwill by releasing Iranian assets.