Victims tell of ‘crimes’

Press, 28 February 1980, Page 8

Victims tell of ‘crimes’

NZPA-Reuter Teheran A five-man United Nations commission investigating the alleged crimes of the former Shah has said it was “really touched” by the sight of mutilated survivors of torture and shootings. The five lawyers from Algeria, Syria, France, Venezuela, and Sri Lanka spent most of yesterday taking evidence from more than 140 people who suffered physical abuse before and during the Iranian revolution last year. Later the commissioners said: “This was an occasion for the commission to examine in dramatically live terms the plight of those in-

volved.” A United Nations spokesman added: “They were really touched by what they saw.” A veteran American civilrights lawyer, hired by Iran to recover the assets of the deposed Shah in the United States, has arrived in Teheran for talks with Iranian officials. Paul O’Dwyer, aged 72, a former New York City Council president, said he was encouraged by a statement he received from the State Department just before leaving the United States. He quoted the department as saying: “The U.S. Government recognises the right of Iran to bring legal action in

the courts of the United States to account for assets in the custody or control of the former Shah that may be judged to belong to the Treasury of Iran.”

The Iran Government says the Shah embezzled $7OOO million from the Treasury. 1 The Iranian Revolutionary Council has agreed to a ' limited readmission of American journalists, banned 1 from the country for alleged biased reporting last month. A council spokesman told ■ reporters: “Those journalists ' whose impartiality is approved by the diplomatic rep- j resentatives of Iran abroad can return to the country.” )