IRAN: Iran's hardline judiciary sentenced dissident academic Mr Hashem Aghajari to five years in prison yesterday for saying Muslims should not blindly follow their clerical leaders like "monkeys", his lawyer said.
The sentence marked a major climbdown by the judiciary which originally condemned Mr Aghajari to death for blasphemy after making the speech in 2002.
The death sentence, issued by a provincial court in western Iran, sparked some of the largest student protests for years and fuelled international concern about restrictions on free speech in the Islamic state.
The blasphemy verdict was finally overturned by the Supreme Court in June after many senior clerics said it was too harsh. A re-trial was held in Tehran earlier this month.
"The Tehran court sentenced him to five years in prison for insulting Islamic values," Mr Saleh Nikbakht said.
He said the court had agreed to free Mr Aghajari, a history lecturer and pro-reform activist, on bail of one billion Rials (€95,000) while a further appeal is lodged.
Mr Aghajari's 2002 speech touched a raw nerve at the heart of clerical rule in Iran by questioning the Shi'ite Muslim doctrine in which ordinary believers are obliged to emulate a senior cleric qualified to interpret the Koran. "Are people monkeys to emulate someone else," he said.
But political analysts say Mr Aghajari's original death sentence caused serious embarrassment to Iran's clerical establishment which is eager to see the case closed.
The court dismissed previous charges of blasphemy, disturbing public order, inciting public opinion and making propaganda against the system.
Mr Aghajari's wife said her husband should have been acquitted. "Why should a professor be given a prison sentence for making a speech?" Ms Zahra Behnoudi said.
Two years of Aghajari's prison sentence were suspended, so after accounting for the two years he has now spent in jail, the sentence was only for one more year in jail, his lawyer said.
The court also banned him from holding public office or taking part in any activity requiring state permission, such as teaching, for five years after his prison term is completed.
While hailing the reduced sentence as a "victory", Mr Nikbakht said he would appeal.