U.N. panel set to hear Iran case on Shah

Press, 26 February 1980, Page 8

U.N. panel set to hear Iran case on Shah

NZPA-Reuter Teheran A United Nations Commis.sibn to study alleged crinjes of • the deposed Shan ' will begin hearing Iran’s case against its?' farther .ruler today. '" ■ The five-man panel of lawyers, sent to Teheran by the United Nations Secre-tary-General (Dr Kurt Waldhenn) to. listen to Iranian grievances and. try to solve tjie crisis between Teheran and Washington, began its mission .by meeting President . Abolhassan i Bani-Sadr arid-the Iranian Foreign Minister (Mr Sadeq Qotbzadeh). ; It was not ' clear' whether the panel would see the 49 American hostages at the centre of the United StatesIranian crisis.

A Revolutionary' Council spokesman, Mr Hassan Habibi, said the commission could see the hostages if it wanted tb take testimony from them, otherwise not. .i The militant students holding the hostages at the Occupied United States embassy in : Teheran said on television. that if the commission condemned crimes attributed to the Shah and showed'United States complicity in them, the. crisis might, be.eased somewhat.

“This commission must condemn the crimes of the Shah and disclose the relations of the United States with them, and, if it does' so, then we shall go forward a little,” a student spokesman said. . • ■ ?

He added: “The commission is not connected to the hostages, and the question of the hostages is related, to the decision of the people.” ■ Emphasising their loyalty to the revolutionary leader, Ayatollah' RUhollah Khomeiny, the students said they would 'accept Parliament’s verdict v pn * the hostages’ fate, and added that the process would take months.

The Ayatollah, in hospital with heart trouble, has left the decision to Iran’s future Islamic Assembly, which will be elected next month and will not sit before about April 7. The commission is likely to get an unequivocal demonstration of public and Government support for the students today when Revolutionary Guards and people’s militias march past the occupied United States embassy with President BaniSadr. taking the salute from inside the compound. Iran’s State radio called

on all Teheranis to take part in the march in an appeal marking ' the climax of National Mobilisation Week. As part of the mass mobilisation effort, the radio has been, broadcasting air-raid warning sirens, and people, have been urged to attend military and guerrilla training-.

■ The riwst striking feature of the week has been to rid Teheran’s streets of the usual serious .traffic jams by banning all private cars during daylight hours, a move which may -be extended if it proves successful.

The United Nations commission’s programme remained vague, and there was no confirmation from the “roup’s spokesman of a report in the Iranian press that it would visit former torture chambers of the Shah’s secret police, the royal family’s grandiose palaces. a centre for people crippled in the revolution, and a cemetery where the dead of the anti-Shah movement are buried.

A spokesman; Mr sa.mii; Sambar, told reporters., that the panel might well travel round Teheran if the Iranian authorities invited them-. : to visit such places. >.■: