Wald Participates in Tehran Conference

George Wald, Higgins Professor of Biology, the Reverend Charles A. Kimball, Proctor at the World Religous Center of the Divinity School, and former attorney general Ramsey Clark are among the nine Americans who have defied President Carter's April 17 travel ban to Iran to participate in a "Crimes of America" conference that started Monday in Tehran.

Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini urged the non-governmental delegates from fifty nations to "condemn the U.S. oppressors." Clark publicly condemned the aborted U.S. hostage rescue mission as "lawless and contrary to constitutional government."

Misconstrued

The State Department denied the nine authorization for the trip, Susan R. Pittman, a State Department spokesman said yesterday.

There is a danger that the Americans' participation in the conference "will be misconstrued as our acceptance of the premise that the United States committed acts of aggression against Iran," she added.

Their participation also will "give the conference a standing and credibility that it does not have," Pittman said.

The Department of Justice is currently investigating the violation of Carter's ban, Robert Havel, spokesman for the Justice Department, said yesterday. The violators of the ban are liable for up to $50,000 in fines or ten years in jail under the Emergency Economic Powers Act, Havel added.

Although no fines or charges will be levied until after their return from Iran, the criminal division of the Justice Department will conduct and investigation into the case in conjunction with the State and Treasury departments, Havel said.

Ban-Wagon

Havel said the nine were in direct violation of the ban and that Robert M. Smith, Special Assistant to the Attorney General, issued a statement last Friday warning the group of Carter's pronouncement. Havel added that the cases will be examined individually.

The group left last Saturday afternoon from New York after meeting each other for the first time that morning, Ruth Hubbard, professor of Biology and Wald's wife, said yesterday, adding that the conference will end Thursday and she expects Wald "not to linger but to return immediately."

"The arrangements were very rushed," she said, adding that Wald had made several phone calls last week and decided to leave.

Hubbard said the Iranian delegation to the United Nations was involved in the negotiations that led to the nine leaving for the conference, adding that the trip was planned so swiftly that she did not know any other details of the trip.

Stanley Hoffmann, professor of Government, yesterday criticized the conference. "It would be different if there were any chance of it helping the hostage situation," Hoffmann said, adding that he felt the trip could only be detrimental to governmental efforts to rescue the hostages.

"I just don't see what they can accomplish," Hoffmann said, adding that the presence of prominent Americans at the conference will be used by the Iranians "for one more argument in support of American guilt."

The trip will be unpopular among many Americans and will be held against those who made it, Hoffmann added