posted January 23, 2001 08:29               

The students also warned that the door for critical dialogue in the country might be closed, calling on people and students to extend further support to reform camp.

Branch 3 of the Islamic Revolution Court recently sentenced senior journalist Akbar Ganji to 10 years in prison plus five year long exile, and gave six other activists sentences ranging from four to 10 years for
their participation in the conference.

The conference, organized by the Heinrich Boell Foundation, which has close ties with Germany's Greens Party, was called to discuss Iran's reform process under President Mohammed Khatami.

The meeting was frequently interrupted by outlawed Iranian opposition groups. Television footages of Berlin Conference showed one man disrobing and a woman dancing which angered many conservative establishments in Iran.

Iranian conservatives branded the conference, which was disrupted by exiled opposition activists, as a threat to national security aiming to topple the regime. They also accused the participants of having `disgraced' the country in front of `counter-revolutionaries'.