9 February 2010 / REUTERS, TEHRAN
An Iranian court has sentenced a reformist former deputy foreign minister to six years in jail over his role in unrest that erupted after last year’s disputed election, the ISNA news agency reported on Monday.
Mohsen Aminzadeh was one of many leading pro-reform figures detained after the presidential election in June, which plunged the Islamic Republic into turmoil and exposed widening establishment divisions. He was a prominent supporter of defeated candidate Mirhossein Mousavi in the poll, which the opposition says was rigged to secure hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s re-election. The authorities have rejected the charge and portrayed the huge opposition protests that erupted after the vote as a Western-backed bid to undermine the Islamic state. Opposition websites have urged people to take to the streets again on Feb. 11, when Iran marks the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution. Police have warned that anti-government protesters will be firmly confronted. Several other leading opposition supporters have earlier received jail terms on charges including acting against national security.
