Iran scraps dissident's death sentence

[Darranar]

ran's hardline judiciary has revoked the death sentence of dissident academic Hashim Aghajari, a verdict which sparked mass student protests in 2002.

A judiciary source, who declined to be named, confirmed comments by Judiciary spokesman Ghulam Husayn Ilham to the ISNA students news agency earlier on Tuesday that the Supreme Court had scrapped Aghajari's death sentence.

"Yes, the sentence has been revoked," the source said.

Reformist history lecturer Aghajari was convicted by a provincial court of blasphemy in late 2002 for saying in a speech Muslims were not "monkeys" to blindly follow the teachings of senior clerics, comments deemed as a challenge to Iran's clerical establishment.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/5973599E-27E6-4859-8339-C21C15EA5A18.htm

[gottaB]

1. This is great news

It wasn't mentioned in the Al Jazeera piece, but supposedly Aghajari is still sentenced to 74 lashes in addition to the banishment and 8 years imprisonment (Supreme Court Revokes Aqajari Death Sentence). But then, I'm confused because I read that the 8 years imprisonment was overturned even though he has been in detention since 2002. They should just release him.