In the 1990s, Hadi Khamenei spoke at seminaries across Iran and launched a reformist newspaper to provide alternative coverage to the state media. In late 1990s, hard-line opponents of the reform movement, organized a campaign targeted at him, by physically attacking him during lectures which were critical of the hard-line leadership, (he required hospitalization for head injuries suffered at a Qom mosque), banning his newspaper, disqualifying him from running for the Assembly of Experts. On 11 February 1999, around one hundred people attacked Hadi Khamenei in Qom. The attackers fractured his skull. The mob used "stones, sticks, iron rods and shoes" to attack Khamenei. The Iranian police arrested 45 people who were suspected to be involved in the attack.