13 July 2005

Alert

Blogger cleared of charges of "insult to prophets", still faces two-year sentence for "insulting the Supreme Guide"


Incident details

Mojtaba Saminejad

web dissident(s)

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(RSF/IFEX) - On 28 June 2005, a Tehran court cleared blogger Mojtaba Saminejad of charges of "insulting the prophets", for which he faced the death penalty. Saminejad must still serve a two-year sentence, however, for "insulting the Supreme Guide".

RSF repeated its call for the release of the young blogger, who has been held in custody since 12 February 2005.

Saminejad's lawyer called two conservative ayatollahs to testify before the judges that the articles posted by his client could not been interpreted as insulting to the prophets.

The blogger had been sentenced to two years in prison at an earlier hearing before another Tehran court for "insulting the Supreme Guide". He has so far not been allowed to appeal this ruling.

Two other webloggers and cyber-journalists, Mohamad Reza Nasab Abdolahi and Mojtaba Lotfi, have also been imprisoned since February 2005.



Source:

Reporters Without Borders
47, rue Vivienne
75002 Paris
France
rsf (@) rsf.org
Phone: +33 1 44 83 84 84
Fax: +33 1 45 23 11 51
 

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More on this case

Blogger Mojtaba Saminejad gets early release after nearly 18 months in prison 22 September 2006 Jailed blogger taken to sit university exams in handcuffs 26 January 2006 Blogger Mojtaba Saminejad gets two-year prison sentence 8 June 2005 Imprisoned blogger on hunger strike 17 May 2005 Five webloggers jailed; webzine editor convicted on appeal 30 November 2004

Iran

Translator and poet arrested, whereabouts unknown 9 February 2012 Blogger sentenced to 14 years' imprisonment, newspaper suspended 7 February 2012 Arrest sweeps target Arab minority 7 February 2012 Ahead of elections, crackdown on press continues 3 February 2012 Journalists’ families targeted in campaign against the media 3 February 2012 See all alerts: Iran


 
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