Death sentence Iranian Court; Islam's Inquisition?

May 3, 2004
Iranian Court Reimposes Death Sentence on University Professor Who Criticized Clerical Rule
The Associated Press

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - An Iranian court reimposed a death sentence Monday against a university professor who criticized clerical rule, a judicial official told The Associated Press.

The original sentence handed down to Hashem Aghajari in November 2002 infuriated students and led to some of the biggest demonstrations in years.

The death sentence was reinstated by a court in Hamedan province in western Iran, said Zekrollah Ahmadi, the chief judiciary official in the province.

Aghajari was convicted in 2002 of insulting Islam and questioning the rule of hard-line clerics. He was condemned to death, banned from teaching for 10 years, exiled for eight years to three remote cities, and sentenced to 74 lashes.

Iran's Supreme Court lifted the death sentence in February 2003, saying the charges were inconsistent with what Aghajari had said in the speech that triggered his prosecution.
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