An Iranian court sentenced an academic and close ally...

An Iranian court sentenced an academic and close ally of President Mohammad Khatami to death for blasphemy after he questioned the right of the clergy to rule the Islamic Republic, his lawyer said. The verdict against Hashem Aghajari, who lost a leg in the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq conflict, is likely to send shock waves through Iran's reformist movement, many of whom have defended his right to free speech. "The verdict was handed to his family yesterday," lawyer Saleh Nikbakht told Reuters. "This sentence is designed to intimidate reformists," pro- reform MP Ali Shakourirad said. "It is unacceptable, it is incompatible with the law, with Sharia and logic." Following a closed trial without jury in the western city of Hamedan, Aghajari, a leading member of the reformist political party Islamic Revolution Mujahedeen Organization was also sentenced to 74 lashes, banned from teaching for 10 years and exiled to three remote Iranian cities for eight years.Iran frequently issues such multiple sentences in cases where it wants to make an example of the accused. In cases where the death penalty is imposed, the other punishments are not carried out. His lawyer said he expected Supreme Court judges to throw out the sentence on appeal. Aghajari, a 45-year-old history lecturer, angered conservative clerics by delivering a speech on "Islamic Protestantism" in which he compared the earthly powers enjoyed by Iran's clerical rulers with medieval Catholic Popes. Particularly galling for the clerical establishment was his questioning of the Shi'ite Muslim practice of emulating senior clerics qualified to interpret the Koran. "Are people monkeys to emulate someone else?" newspapers quoted Aghajari as saying. Nikbakht insisted his client had not said anything that insulted Prophet Mohammed. "There has never been a word insulting the prophet in Aghajari's speech. This verdict is nothing but a rule against Iran's national interests," he said. Aghajari told the Emrooz news Web Site (www.emrooz.org) before his sentence: "They may put me in jail or assassinate me but they would achieve nothing from this. Those who will be hurt are the clerical establishment they claim to be backing." Political tension is rising in Iran as Khatami gears up for a direct challenge to mostly unelected hard-liners in powerful positions within the state who have blocked his efforts to revamp the Islamic Republic for the last five years. The president has introduced two bills to parliament aimed at limiting the power of the judiciary and curbing the right of a conservative body to vet election candidates.