FRANKFURT - A German newspaper reported that security concerns are also prompting Iran to reconsider the trip. In a report to appear Friday, the Die Welt newspaper cited German officials as saying they were uncertain if the visit would even take place after security issues were repeatedly raised by an Iranian delegation in Berlin ahead of the president's arrival.

Khatami apparently fears that protests during the visit may endanger his political position at home, the report said.

Germany will reimpose controls along its borders to screen out members of Iranian opposition groups, officials said Thursday.

Authorities also reportedly have placed travel restrictions on Iranian exiles living in Germany.

[Reuters: Demonstrations planned by human rights groups, Berlin Jews and the foreign-based Iranian opposition are likely to complicate the delicate visit to Germany.

Kharrazi criticized Berlin for its handling of exiled Iranian opponents of Khatami's government.

Iranian dissidents say 175 German parliamentarians from all the major parties signed an appeal to cancel the visit on the ground that human rights were still being violated in Iran.

German officials have expressed private worries that the expected protests might embarrass Khatami.]
 

To Confront Peaceful Protests, Khatami Will Bring Intelligence Ministry Agents to Germany, Iran Zamin News Agency, July 6

Reports indicate that a joint committee consisting of representatives from Khatami's office, the Foreign Ministry and the

mullahs' Ministry of Intelligence pursues issues pertinent to Khatami's visit to Germany.

They are following up plans to confront peaceful demonstrations and protests by supporters of the Iranian Resistance.

The clerical regime sent a 15-member delegation to Berlin earlier to make the arrangements for the trip. Presently, they work out of the mullahs' embassy in Berlin. Five of them are members of the Ministry of Intelligence whose main task is to gather information on the opposition in Germany.
 

Martial Law Imposed In Abadan, Guards Open Fire On People Throughout The City, Iran Zamin News Agency, July 6

After 12 hours of clashes and hit-and-run battles between the people and the clerical regime's suppressive forces throughout Abadan, martial law was imposed on the city starting 10:00 p.m. local time, last night.

But today thousands of residents defied the martial law and staged protest demonstrations in different districts of the city, which resulted in confrontations with the mullahs' repressive forces.

Until midnight last night, five bodies of young demonstrators killed due to gun shot wounds were taken to Taleqani hospital. Two more bodies were taken to Raja'i (formerly Koroush) hospital.

At 8 am, Mojahed Jaafarian, aged 16, was shot dead and a number of protesters were wounded when the security forces opened fire on them in Tanki-Abolhassan district.

At 12:30 p.m., two demonstrators were shot dead by Revolutionary Guards and seven other protesters were wounded when security forces opened fire on young demonstrators in the city's Tanki-Abolhassan district.

In defiance of the paramilitary Bassij agents roaming in the city, thousands of Abadan residents flocked to the city's cemetery today to take part in the funeral of several martyrs of their two-day uprising.

Brave young Abadanis have baffled the security forces by gathering in groups and throwing rocks at the Guards, dispersing quickly and regrouping in another area of the city.

To prevent the news of the major uprising by the people of Abadan from spreading, the clerical regime has cut off all mobile phones in Abadan and regular phones in a number of districts.

Several battalions of special forces have been assigned to the task of protecting Abadan oil refinery. The people, however, set fire to stations seven and 12, and the refinery's fire station.
 

Iran Arrests Five Over Videotape, Associated Press, July 6

TEHRAN - Five people were arrested and charged with helping make a controversial videotape featuring an Islamic vigilante group member discussing his links to hardline politicians, state-run Tehran radio reported Thursday.

In the videotape, widely circulated in Tehran, Amir Farshad Ebrahimi, a member of a violent Islamic vigilante group, names several senior members of the establishment, all hard-liners, and alleges they used his group to attack their reformist opponents. 

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