Swiss Seek Fresh Look at Slaying of Iran Dissident, Reuter, June 12 

BERNE - Senior Swiss members of parliament called on Thursday for the authorities to step up efforts to prosecute 13 Iranian suspects linked to the 1990 murder of a leading Iranian dissident near Geneva.

Spurred by a German court ruling that Iranian leaders ordered the gangland-style slaying of dissidents in Berlin's Mykonos restaurant five years ago, officials said it was time to get to the bottom of who gunned down Kazem Rajavi in Switzerland.

"After the courageous Mykonos verdict, the time is right to reopen the Rajavi case," Victor Ruffy, head of lower house's foreign affairs committee, told reporters.

His call to move ahead with the case was signed by 116 of the 200 members of the lower house.

Ruffy said investigators quickly revealed the identity of 13 people suspected of taking part in the killing, but added authorities were slow to pursue the case….

Committee members said it was imperative that the 13 suspects face a Swiss court, if only in absentia. "It is a question of whether the Swiss legal system is credible or not," said member of parliament Luzius Stamm….

Rajavi, a leading opponent of the Iranian government, was shot outside his home at Coppet near Geneva in April 1990.

Switzerland later accused two Iranians of the murder and they were arrested in France. But in December 1993 the French government sent them home despite a Swiss request for their extradition.

Rajavi, a former Iranian diplomat who had lived in Switzerland for 10 years, was the brother of Massoud Rajavi, head of the Iranian opposition Mujahideen Khalq guerrilla movement, who lives in France.

France's highest administrative court slammed the government in 1994 for sending home the two Iranians, a move that infuriated the Swiss government….

Faced with a public outcry at the time, French Prime Minister Edouard Balladur took pains to avoid giving a full explanation, saying merely that the two were flown home "for reasons relating to the national interest."

Strict Lesson for Mullahs' President-Elect, London Times, June 12 

… A small group of us has gathered at a prominent theological center in Qom, one of the nation's holiest cities. All rise when Makarem Shirazi, one of the Islamic republic's seven grand ayatollahs, enters the room….

Iran's elected President, Muhammad Khatami, studied theology in Qom, but the ayatollah cannot recall him…

Regardless of whether the two met in the past, the ayatollah certainly has some lessons for the country's new President about the true meaning of the Constitution. After all, he was one of the men who drafted the document and his interpretation differs greatly from that of Mr. Khatami, who said there was no legal barrier against women standing for the presidency.

Not so, says Ayatollah Shirazi. "There may be some women in Mr. Khatami's Cabinet, but the Constitution does not allow a woman to become a President," he says. "We decided when drafting the Constitution that the men should become Presidents. Even in the United States, it has been proven that men are much better in practice in these roles than women."…

No Change in Us-Iran Relations, Associated Press, June 12

WASHINGTON - … The emir of Qatar, Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, has been in Washington urging the Clinton administration to open a dialogue with Iran. Officials offered no hint of change for now.

State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns said the United States wants to see Iran stop supporting terrorism, acquiring weapons of mass destruction and trying to undermine the Middle East peace process.

"We hope there will be change," Burns said. "We can't base our policy on hopes and aspirations. We have to base it on concrete actions, and that's what we'd like to see."…

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