Tehran - An Iranian court has upheld the prison sentence on a dissident cleric whose attacks on "religious dictatorship" have made him a hero to Iran's reform movement. An appeals court confirmed the 18-month sentence handed down by a religious tribunal against Mohsen Kadivar, one of the most outspoken critics of Iran's clerical regime.
Kadivar swiftly denounced the ruling of the Special Court for Clergy (SCC) as a "politically orientated" move to satisfy Iran's "power-hungry" leadership, the English-language Iran Daily reported.
A court also found Mr Mohammad Mousavi-Khoeiniha, the publisher of the pro-reform newspaper Salam, guilty of several charges including publishing a classified document and defamation. Mr Khoeinia was charged with inciting public opinion after Salam published an allegedly "top secret" letter from a disgraced intelligence officer.
