IRAN: DISSIDENTE CONDANNATO A MORTE RIFIUTA DI APPELLARSI 'LA GIUSTIZIA RISOLVA IL PROBLEMA CHE ESSA STESSA HA CREATO' 

TEHERAN, - E' stata confermata la pena di morte per il dissidente iraniano Hachem Aghajari, accusato di apostasia, avendo, secondo i giudici, ripudiato il proprio credo. A nulla sono valse le obiezioni avanzate dal suo avvocato nei confronti della decisione emessa in primo grado dalla Corte Suprema: la sentenza e' rimasta invariata e dal canto suo Aghajari non ha intenzione di appellarsi.

Aghajari era stato condannato per la prima volta nel 2002 a otto anni di reclusione e alla pena di morte, nonostante fosse gia' noto come rivoluzionario e valoroso combattenta nella guerra Iran-Irak tra il 1980 e il 1988. Per i giudici, pero', ha commesso il grave reato di mettere in discussione i fondamenti religiosi della Repubblica islamica esprimendosi pubblicamente a favore di una sorta di protestantesimo dell'Islam in cui si afferma che i musulmani non sono tenuti a seguire ciecamente un capo religioso.La sentenza ha sollevato un aspro dibattito nel Paese, ma Aghajari e' determinato a lasciare che ''la giustizia risolva un problema che essa  stessa ha creato'.

IRAN: Iranian dissident refuses to appeal new death sentence

 Iranian dissident Hashem Aghajari has again refused to appeal against a death sentence for blasphemy which was reconfirmed by a provincial court, his lawyer Saleh Nikbakht said.

"He told me yesterday that he refused to lodge an appeal and forbade me to do it on his behalf," Nikbakht told reporters.

Aghajari had already refused to appeal against the sentence when it was first pronounced by a judge in the western city of Hamedan for a speech he made critical of Iran's dominant clergy.

Faced with protects at home and abroad, supreme leader Mohammad Khatami ordered the supreme court to review the verdict, which was then annulled on procedural grounds.

However the same Hamedan court on Monday reconfirmed the sentence, saying that that any technical flaws had been rectified.

The powerful hardline judiciary stepped in quickly Tuesday, saying the verdict would be reviewed again by the supreme court.

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Iran's judiciary says dissident's death sentence still not final

 The Iranian judiciary said Tuesday that a death sentence on dissident Hashem Aghajari for blasphemy was still not final despite its reimposition by a provincial judge, the student news agency ISNA reported.

Judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Elham said that it was up to the supreme court to hand down a definitive judgement, ISNA added.

The judicial authorities had moved quickly to stress that the ruling of the judge in the western city of Hamedan, where Aghajari was alleged to have committed blasphemy in a speech in 2002, was not final.

The passing of the original death sentence on Aghajari, a disabled war veteran and university teacher, in November 2002 caused protests in Iran and abroad.

Iran critic faces death penalty
Mr Aghajari became a cause celebre for protesters

 The death sentence imposed on liberal Iranian academic Hashem Aghajari has been confirmed, his lawyer has said. 

Saleh Nikbakht says he has been officially told of the re-imposition of the death penalty originally passed on his client in 2002. 

Mr Aghajari was charged with blasphemy for saying that Muslims should not blindly follow religious leaders.

The Supreme Court later annulled the sentence and sent the case back to the provincial court for review.

The provincial court, in the western city of  Hamedan where Mr Aghajari made his comments, re-imposed the death penalty earlier in May.

Mr Nikbakht was quoted by the Iranian news agency as saying that the judge in the case had failed to clear any of the shortcomings pointed out by the Supreme Court. 

He said that his client refuses to appeal, in protest at the re-imposition of the sentence. 

Protests 

The original imposition of the death sentence prompted protests by students and the intervention of influential reformists, including the Iranian president, Mohammad Khatami. 

Mr Aghajari is currently being held in Evin prison in  Tehran , where he is serving a 4-year sentence imposed in place of the death penalty by the Supreme Court. 

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, 8 years in jail and 74 lashes for lesser offences. 

After student protests, Ayatollah Khamenei was forced to step in and order a review of his verdict. 

Hashem Aghajari is a war veteran who lost a leg in the 1980-88 war with  Iraq . He belongs to a left-wing reformist political group, the Islamic Revolutionary Mujahidin Organisation.

Judge who confirmed  Iran dissident's death sentence rapped by lawyer 

 An Iranian judge who reconfirmed a controversial death sentence against dissident Hashem Aghajari ignored objections to the original sentence made by the Supreme Court, newspapers Monday quoted his lawyer as saying. Saleh Nikbakht complained that the judge in the western city of  Hamadan, who handed down the original death sentence against Aghajari then reconfirmed it last week, failed to "clear any points that were signaled as shortcomings by the Supreme Court."

 He added: "the judge has issued the ruling without clearing up those deficiencies in line with the orders of the State Supreme Court, and this amounts to a ruling against the Supreme Court."

 Iran's top judicial authorities are thought to be anxious to avoid a repetition of the protests at home and abroad that followed the original death sentence on Aghajari, a disabled war veteran and university teacher, in November 2002.

 A court in Hamedan found that Aghajari had committed blasphemy in a speech earlier in the year criticizing the power of the dominant Shiite clergy and that, in line with Islamic and Iranian law, he deserved to die.

 The speech hit at the very core of Iran's 25-year-old Islamic regime, calling for a reformation in the state religion and asserting that Muslims were not "monkeys" and "should not blindly follow" religious leaders.

 For powerful conservative hardliners, those comments were seen as a frontal assault on the Shiite doctrine of emulation and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's status as supreme guide.

 Aghajari was also sentenced to 8 years in jail. The term was later commuted to four years before being scrapped on April 14, but he is still being held in  Tehran 's Evin prison. 

Following demonstrations by students and protests by reformists in the government over the death sentence, Khamenei demanded it be reviewed. In January 2003, the Supreme Court ordered a retrial. 

Judicial officials said last week that the new Hamedan verdict was not final and would again be reviewed by the Supreme Court. 

Aghajari persists in his refusal to appeal, letting the judiciary regulate a problem which he says was created by them. 

However, Nikbakht said that, if his client does not change his opinion, he will try "as a lawyer to persuade him and will use all the means at his disposal to save his skin." 

Iran dissident faces death again - A regional court in Iran has reimposed the death penalty on a prominent dissident, Hashem Aghajari.

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".

The sentence sparked the largest student protest for years, and it was later overturned by the Supreme Court.

Now the court in Hamedan province has upheld its original verdict and sent the case back to the higher court.

"The sentence is not final," said his lawyer, Saleh Nikbakht.

Mr Aghajari is currently being held in Evin prison in Tehran, where he is serving a four-year sentence imposed in place of the death penalty by the Supreme Court.

He has also been appealing against that sentence.

Rallying call

After reviewing the case, an official from the regional court said that "the judge has... maintained his original decision... there was nothing new in the file".

The official said the case would now be sent back to the supreme court.

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.

After student protests, Ayatollah Khamenei was forced to step in and order a review of his verdict.

Hashem Aghajari is a war veteran who lost a leg in the 1980-88 war with Iraq. He belongs to a left-wing reformist political group, the Islamic Revolutionary Mujahidin Organisation.