Iranian dissident professor sentenced to 5-year jail

Hashem Aghajari, a history professor and Iranian dissident has been sentenced to five years in prison including a two-year suspended term, the official IRNA news agency reported Tuesday.

"The court has accepted my request to turn his arrest warrant into release on bail, and he will be freed upon paying the bail, but Aghajari has to serve the remaining three-year prison term," IRNA quoted Aghajari's lawyer as saying.

Aghajari was also deprived of his social rights for five years after his prison term expires, the report said.

Aghajari, a history professor at Tehran's Teachers Training University, was first convicted of blasphemy for his remarks delivered at lectures and given death sentence in 2002 by Hamedan provincial court.

However, the Iranian Supreme Court turned down the sentence and sent it back for further review because of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's interference and a widespread protest by university students.

Hamedan Judiciary Department reinstated the death sentence later and issued the execution order on May 9, which, however, was again revoked by Supreme Court according to Khamenei's decree.

The case was then transferred to Tehran Public Court for final examination, which started on July 3.

Aghajari is also a disabled veteran of the Iran-Iraq war between 1980 and 1988.