Hashem
Aghajari's lawyer said on
Tuesday that the verdict proves his client is not an "apostate".
"I am very happy. I feel very proud that what I said all along
has been recognised. He was not an apostate and did not insult the
prophet,"
Saleh Nikbakht
said, but nevertheless promised to appeal.
Aghajari was also sentenced to five years' deprivation of his
social rights, which will commence after his term in prison ends.
The dissident has already spent nearly two years in jail, which his lawyer
said would be deducted from the sentence. This means
Aghajari should be released after one more year behind bars.
The leftist activist, who lost a leg in the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq
war, sparked the wrath of Iran's establishment when he said in
a speech to students that Muslims were not "monkeys" and
"should not blindly follow" religious leaders.
'Insulting religious sanctities'
He was sentenced to death in his first trial, behind closed
doors, in the western city of Hamedan in November 2002.
After the
verdict sparked widespread student protests, supreme leader
Ayat Allah Ali Khamenei intervened and ordered a retrial.
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"I am very happy. I feel very proud that what I said all along has been recognised. He was not an apostate and did not insult the
prophet"
Saleh Nikbakht,
Hashem Aghajari's lawyer |
But after the same court defiantly upheld its verdict in a retrial, a
second round of hearings was ordered to take place in a
more sympathetic court in the capital, Tehran.
The judiciary also dropped all charges on Monday that could lead to the
death penalty.
Aghajari was instead slapped with lesser charges of insulting
religious sanctities, propagating against the regime and spreading
false information to disturb the public mind.
Solitary confinement
Those charges carried a jail term of between five and 10 years.
"Regarding insulting religious sanctities, I am sure that if
this case is taken to the Supreme Court... this sentence will be
revoked and my client will be cleared of the charges," Nikbakht
said.
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Ayat Allah Ali Khamenei ordered
a retrial for Hashem Aghajari
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"I am confident he will be cleared on appeal," he asserted, but
added that if that failed he would apply for a pardon to coincide
with the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution, which falls in
February 2005.
"I have reached the conclusion that in dealing with the Iranian
judiciary, you can only move your case forward with sensitivity and
moderation," the lawyer said.
Iran's judiciary is seen as a bastion of the Islamic republic's
religious right-wing, and has frequently been accused of targeting
reform-minded
figures.
Aghajari is currently being held in remand in Tehran's Evin
prison, and has complained of spending long periods of time in
solitary confinement.