BERLIN - Mohammad Khatami said Tuesday there was no prospect of improved relations with the United States, as he faced more hostile protests on the second day of a visit to Germany.

In an interview with German television, the president said "our problems with the United States are clear. One knows where the problems are -- but the key to overcome them lies solely and uniquely in the hands of the USA."

The second day of his visit saw more demonstrations by exiled Iranian opponents of the Tehran government. A Swedish man of Iranian origin threw a bag of paint over a car in the presidential delegation and was arrested, police said.

An opposition source said demonstrators also threw colored eggs at the helicopter which Khatami has been using during his visit to Berlin and that these demonstrators were arrested too.
 

Students Stunned By Verdict Clearing Police In Dorm Attack Case, Agence France Presse, July 11

TEHRAN - Stunned Students at Tehran University said Tuesday that they will not accept a court verdict that exonerated the policemen who violently attacked their university dormitories last July, sparking several days of riots.

A military court earlier Tuesday acquitted former Tehran police chief, Farhad Nazari, and 17 of his men, of all charges against them. However, the court sentenced one policeman, Farhad Arjomandi, a hero to the students, to two years imprisonment for refusing to obey Nazari's orders.

"This is unbelievable, unimaginable. Those who attacked us have been acquitted, while my friend, who brandished the bloodstained shirt of a student, is in prison," said a 22-year old English student who called himself Ali-Reza.

"We were attacked. Nevertheless, the military court designates us as guilty, while the policemen are acquitted. That is unacceptable. It will not end here," added 23-year old Karim, also an English student.

"I was there last year. There were not 34 injuries (the official figure), but hundreds. Many did not take (legal) action for fear of reprisals," he said.

He recalled the events of the day leading up to a five-day insurrection that shook the foundations of the Islamic Republic, saying the students "prevented certain attack on the girls' dorms."
 

Woman Sentenced to Death By Stoning, Agence France Presse, July 9

TEHRAN - An Iranian woman has been sentenced to death by stoning for adultery, the press reported Sunday.

The court verdict spelt out that Maryam Ayubi, 30, was condemned to death by stoning for an "adulterous liaison" and to 15 years in jail for complicity to murder.
 

Khatami's Government Sees Camp David Summit as "Sellout", Reuters, July 11

TEHRAN - Iran on Tuesday described the U.S.-sponsored Camp David summit between Israel and the Palestinians as a sellout of the Palestinian cause.

"Iran does not see such meetings in line with Palestinian interests. So far, they have produced nothing but to impose Israel's demands on the Palestinian side," said foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi.
 

News Bites

Associated Press, July 11 - Khatami was dogged again by criticism of his country's human rights record. Several hundred exiled Iranian dissidents demonstrated Tuesday against Iran's clerical rulers. Asked about human rights in a TV interview, Khatami said every nation had the right to its own understanding of the concept, based on its culture and history. German opposition leaders insisted that business should not be put ahead of human rights and criticized Schroeder for refraining from a public statement about Iran's record.

Reuters, July 11 - Khatami sought on Tuesday to revive Iran's shrinking economic ties with Germany. He gave assurances that Iran was "a stable country, determined to progress and cooperate."

But weekend clashes in Tehran between pro-democracy students and Islamic vigilantes told another story. Some 7,000 supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, also demonstrated in Berlin on Monday.

Reuters, July 11- Iran on Tuesday vowed to resist U.S. pressure to reduce the long jail terms imposed on 10 Jews convicted of spying for Israel, saying it would not "pay any price" to normalize relations with Washington.

"Iran is an independent country that does not care about pressures, and the judicial system strove from the start to give the defendants a fair trial...which is what happened," Iran's Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi told the London-based al-Hayat daily. 

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