En iransk domstol har igjen dømt den kjente dissidenten, Hashem Aghajari, til døden, melder BBC. Forrige gang utløste dødsdommen de største studentdemonstrasjonene på flere år.

Mr Aghajari was sentenced to death in November 2002 for apostasy, after he spoke out against Iran’s mullahs and called for a «religious renewal».

Høyesterett omstøtte dødsstraffen, men en lokal domstol har nå bekreftet den. Aghajari soner for tiden fire år i Evin-fengslet for kjetteri.

Mr Aghajari, a history professor at a Tehran college, made a speech in August 2002, which was a seen as an attack on the country’s Islamic establishment and the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Akbar Khamenei.

He said that Muslims were not «monkeys» and «should not blindly follow» the clerics.

As well as the death sentence for apostasy and insulting the early imams, he received further sentences of a 10-year ban on teaching, eight years in jail and 74 lashes for lesser offences.

Irans ledere befinner seg i en labil situasjon. De kuppet valget til ny nasjonalforsamling, og er levende opptatt av hva som skjer i Irak. Det er både en utfordring og en trussel. Det bekreftet Rafsanjani i en fredagstale 9. april:

In a Friday sermon on April 9, delivered at Tehran University amid shouts of «Death to America, Death to Israel,» Expediency Council head Hashemi Rafsanjani said: «The present situation in Iraq represents a threat as well as an opportunity… It is a threat because the wounded American beast can take enraged actions, but it is also an opportunity to teach this beast a lesson so it won’t attack another country.» Kilde : Memri