REFORMIST THINKER CONDEMNED TO DEATH

TEHRAN 7 Nov. (IPS) Mr. Hashem Aqajari, an outspoken reformist and scholar has been sentenced to death, on charges of insulting Prophet Mohammad, according to his lawyer, Mr. Saleh Nikbakht.

Mr. Aqajari had been detained three months ago after he gave a conference last June in the Western city of Hamadan, saying that people were not “apes” to follow clergymen.

Hard line ayatollahs said in his speech, Mr. Aqajari, a university professor, had also insulted both Muslims prophet Mohammad and the clerical corps.

Mr. Nikbakht told the independent Students news agency ISNA that he has not seen the sentence, but Mr. Aqajari was informed about it and had seen it.

According to Mr. Nikbakht, Aghajari, who is also a senior member of the Islamic Revolution Mojahedeen Organisation (IRMO), was also sentenced to 74 lashes, banned from teaching for 10 years and 8 years of exile in Gonabad, Zabol and Tabas.

But it was not clear how Mr. Aqajari could be at the same time executed and also be banned from teaching or serving ten years in prison?

But sources said that Iranian courts, all depending on the Judiciary, which itself is directly controlled by Ayatollah Ali Khameneh’í, the leader of the Islamic Republic, often impose such multiple sentences in order to show leniency afterward, as seen in the case of Hojjatoleslam Hasan Yoosef Eshkevari, a reformist cleric who had been sentenced to death for questioning Islam’s basic principles.

Mr. Nikbakht told ISNA that his client had not said anything that insulted the Prophet, nor did he insulted the clerics, and pointed out that senior ayatollahs like Grand Ayatollah Hoseynali Montazeri, Hasan Sane’í or Jalaleddine Taheri had seen the full text of Aqajari’s speech and found nothing insulting, as the charges have alleged.

''There has never been a word insulting the prophet in Aghajari's speech. This verdict is nothing but a rule against Iran's national interests'', Mr. Nikbakht said.
In part of his conference, Mr. Aghajari had said clerics' teachings on Islam were considered sacred simply because they were part of history, and he questioned why clerics were the only ones authorised to interpret Islam.

Later, he was charged with insulting Islamic sanctities and the court described his speech as blasphemous.

Students at the faculty in which Mr. Aqajari teaches went on strike two weeks ago after the court had condemned the scholar.

Analysts say the verdict imposed on Mr. Aqajari is part of a new campaign by the conservatives, as the Majles is debating two bills presented by the government of President Hojjatoleslam Mohammad Khatami aimed at curtailing the powers of the Judiciary and the Council of Guardians, both controlled by the leader.

A Tehran court ordered the imprisonment of Mr. Abbas Abdi, also a reformist activist on charges of espionage for foreign powers.

Judge Saíd Mortazavi, dubbed as “the Butcher of the press” accused Mr. Abdi of having received 450.000 toomans (5.500 US Dollars as the market rate) from the American firm Gallup to collect datas for the American political and intelligence communities.

But the fact is that Mr. Abdi, the director of a research company, participated in a survey that showed 74 per cent of Iranians approve normalisation with the United States and only 1.2 per cent consider Mr. Khameneh‘î as a good leader. AQAJARI SENTENCED 71102