Gorbachev Tells More Reforms--Iceland Chief

Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev has promised to release more political prisoners and a major overhaul of restrictions on travel outside the Soviet Union as part of his liberalization policy, Iceland’s prime minister said today.

Speaking at a news conference at the end of a two-day official visit, Prime Minister Steingrimur Hermannsson said he met with Gorbachev for two hours in the Kremlin Monday.

He said they discussed a wide range of topics, including human rights and the recent Soviet proposals on eliminating intermediate-range missiles in Europe.

Hermannsson said Gorbachev did not reveal specifics about easing travel restrictions, but, the Icelandic prime minister said, “I clearly understood that in a few years there will be very great changes.”

Hermannsson said that he did not raise any specific cases of political prisoners but that he did ask “specific questions” about the Kremlin’s policy toward human rights.

‘Process Would Continue’

Last month the Kremlin announced that it was releasing about 140 dissidents and reviewing the cases of another 140.

“The general secretary, as . . . I understood him, said . . . this was a process that had started and would continue. This referred both to the release of people in prison and also for the freedom of travel,” Hermannsson said.

Hermannsson said Gorbachev emphasized that the uncoupling of the elimination of intermediate-range missiles in Europe from U.S. concessions on the testing of the Strategic Defense Initiative, known as “Star Wars,” announced Saturday was an important first step in revitalizing stalled superpower arms reduction talks.

He said there was no mention of another summit with President Reagan during their discussions.