Memories of Akbar Hashemi - June 6, 2002

Criticism of the Iranian government has escalated over its weak presence at the CICA summit, despite Iran being a founding member of this organization and 16 countries being members. Perhaps due to the presence of Israel, Iran participated at the level of Deputy Foreign Minister.There has been a lot of noise regarding the confiscation of several new books and also a statement from seminary students in Qom regarding the necessity of book censorship under the supervision of the seminary.

Complete text of the daily report:

Israeli tanks entered the city of Ramallah in retaliation for the attack carried out by a Palestinian fighter against Israel and fired towards Yasser Arafat's office, [the president of the Palestinian Authority]; although Arafat has issued an order to arrest the leaders of the Islamic Jihad [who have claimed responsibility for yesterday's operations], it seems that Israel believes that applying pressure on Arafat is a more effective approach. George Bush, [the President of the United States], has strongly condemned yesterday's operations.

George Bush made a phone call to [Pervez] Musharraf and [Atal Bihari] Vajpayee, the leaders of Pakistan and India, inviting them to exercise restraint, while at the same time, the U.S. has urged its citizens to take seriously the warning to leave India and Pakistan. India has proposed that joint patrols of India and Pakistan control the borders of Kashmir, and Pakistan has said it will consider this. [Kofi Annan], the Secretary-General of the United Nations, expressed regret that Pakistan and India could not take advantage of the SICA summit for the sake of de-escalation.

Criticism of the Iranian government has intensified due to its weak presence at the CICA summit, despite Iran being one of the founders of this organization and there being 16 member countries. Perhaps due to the presence of Israel, Iran participated at the level of deputy foreign minister, even though leaders from most countries were present.There has been a lot of noise regarding the seizure of several new books and also the statement from the seminary students in Qom regarding the necessity of book censorship under the supervision of the seminary.

America has released a terrible report on the extent of human trafficking in the world: between 700,000 and four million people are caught in this flow, mainly in the service of sex and trafficking. The new strict regulations of the United States for the entry of foreign travelers into the country, especially from Islamic countries, have also been criticized by international and domestic observers in America.

The day before yesterday, in northern Syria, the Zizoun dam broke, releasing 70 million cubic meters of water, which destroyed many villages and caused casualties. Bashar al-Assad, [the President of Syria], has called for international aid.I worked in the office until the evening. At seven in the evening, I went to Karaj, to Mr. [Mohammad Reza] Noori-Shahroudi's garden. Part of the family also came.