Majid Tavakoli, wearing hijab
Riots in Tehran (Archives)
Photo: AP
Iran: Reformist student sentenced to 8 years
Majid Tavakoli, who called President Ahmadinejad a 'fascist', Ayatollah Khamenei a 'dictator' sentenced to eight years imprisonment
Iran sentenced student leader Majid Tavakoli, who spoke out against the ayatollah regime in a speech last month, to eight years imprisonment.
The main charge brought against the student, which landed him six years in prison, was insulting President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, by calling him a "fascist".
Tavakoli was also charged with insulting supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who he called a "dictator", and operating against the government. The court also banned Tavakoli from political activity for a period of five years, and barred him from leaving the country for five years.
In a speech at Tehran University, Tavakoli slammed the president's economic policies and the oppression of the opposition's protest in the country.
After his arrest Iranian state media published pictures of the student dressed as a woman and wearing a hijab.
Tavakoli's brother Ali later claimed that security forces beat him during his arrest and published the images to break his spirit and intimidate him during investigation.
But the authority's actions only encouraged the opposition. Thousands members of Iran's reformist opposition posted online photos of themselves and of Iran's top leaders dressed as women in a show of support of their comrade and in protest of his arrest.
In hopes of deterring other opposition supports of any public protests, Iranian authorities have handed out heavy sentences in recent weeks against reformist camp activists in the country.
One journalist was even sentenced to six years in prison and five years of internal exile in a remote desert town.
