An Iranian court upheld on appeal a seven-year sentence...

An Iranian court upheld on appeal a seven-year sentence against a reformist cleric, initially sentenced to death for saying women should be free to decide whether to wear a veil, judicial sources said. Hojatoleslam Hassan Yussefi Echkevari made his views known on the veil in Berlin in April 2000 during a conference on Islamic reforms, provoking a crisis between moderate President Mohammad Khatami and hardline politicians. Echkevari's death sentence was never confirmed officially, but his family said it was handed down by a special tribunal that handles crimes by member of the clergy. News of the sentence sparked local and international protests. Last autumn, Echkevari's sentence was commuted to seven years, of which four were for his views on the veil, one for taking part in the conference and two for spreading "lies" on the murder of several intellectuals in 1998 implicating members of the intelligence ministry. Television footage of Echkevari's speech at the Berlin conference angered conservatives, with many calling for the imprisonment or death of reformists.