Asia

Home page

Asia

Iran sentences another activist to death

10 February 2010 04:45 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. An Iranian court has convicted another opposition activist on charges related to the country’s post-election turmoil and sentenced him to death, the judiciary said Tuesday, APA reports citing â€œAssociated Pressâ€.

The sentencing brings to at least 10 the number of those facing the death penalty in a mass trial over the unrest following Iran’s disputed June presidential elections. The Web site of the country’s judiciary said the activist was convicted of Moharebeh, or defiance of God, and handed the capital punishment. The report also said that eight more people were sentenced to unspecified prison terms.

The eight were arrested following deadly clashes in late December between opposition protesters and security forces, it said. The report did not identify those convicted or say when they were sentenced.

The Web site also said that an appeals court has upheld earlier convictions and sentences for 35 opposition activists. Those included a five-year sentence for Behzad Nabavi, a deputy parliament speaker in the 1990s and a close ally of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi.

Nabavi also served as deputy prime minister in the early 1980s when he negotiated with U.S. officials the release of American hostages held in the 1979 takeover by militant students of the U.S. embassy in Tehran.

The late December clashes were the worst unrest since the immediate aftermath of the June election. Among the eight killed was Mousavi’s nephew, Ali Mousavi. He was gunned down but authorities later said police didn’t use firearms and said the nephew was "assassinated" by unknown assailants.

Another person close to Mousavi, his brother-in-law Shapoor Kazemi, was released in January after spending five months in detention. Kazemi is an engineer who is not involved in politics.

The opposition believes the detentions are an attempt to pressure Mousavi and the opposition movement.

Iran is bracing for expected protest marches Thursday to coincide with events marking the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.