The Imam held the families of martyrs in high esteem and paid special attention to them. Normally the appointments we took from him for visits by the families of martyrs at times reached two or three per day—and took place at specific hours. One group of families would come and the Imam would speak to them while another group for some reason or the other such as breakdown of their vehicle would not be able to make it on time to the Hosseiniyah Assembly Hall. After his speech the Imam normally retired to his room but when these late-comers would reach, the Imam would again come back and speak to this other group as well.
On numerous occasions after the programs had been finished and the national broadcasting and television network personnel had closed down for the day suddenly a group would arrive. I would truly feel embarrassed of inconveniencing the Imam. On one occasion when I no longer had the nerve to tell the Imam of the arrival of visitors, I asked them to chant slogans instead (so that the Imam would hear their voices and come and speak to them). Suddenly I saw the Imam come out of his room and move towards them (he was not wearing the clerical cloak and came into the Hosseiniyah Assembly Hall in casual clothes and sat on the chair). I begged the Imam to pardon me for inconveniencing him but he stated: “Mention not, these are families of martyrs.”
Name of the narrator: Hujjat al-Islam wal Muslimeen Mahdi Karroubi, Jeremiad to the Beloved, May-June 1993
Title of the Book: Impressions and Memoirs about Imam Khomeini's Practical Behaviour, vol. 1, chapter two, page 196