Serahatnameh, a book of interviews with Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani, the head of the Expediency Council, has been pulled from Tehran’s 26th book exhibition.
ISNA reports that Ali Esmaili, the head of the exhibition, explained the action was needed to “corroborate certain information with relevant officials.”
There are certain quotes in the book from a number of figures, he explained, and they need to be corroborated to ascertain their veracity before the exhibition can display the books.
The book in question contains interviews conducted with Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani in 2009, and in it he reportedly refers to the letter he wrote to the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei about his views on the presidential debates of 2009, access to satellite programming, the activities of the BBC and Persian-language satellite programs, and the reasons for his withdrawal from positions of power.
Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani has been severely sidelined since the 2009 presidential elections, and recent statements that he might enter the presidential race have drawn the scorn of conservative factions close to Ayatollah Khamenei.
