Iranian university professor Hashem Aghajari vowed...

Iranian university professor Hashem Aghajari vowed he wouldn't appeal against a reinstated death sentence, effectively challenging Iran's judges to execute him for criticizing clerical rule, his lawyer said.
The original sentence handed down to Aghajari in 2002 provoked massive student demonstrations and street battles with hard-line vigilantes. The uproar highlighted the power struggle between reformists and conservatives in Iran.
The Supreme Court overturned the death penalty in 2003. But the original court in the western province of Hamedan province reinstated it.
"Professor Aghajari told me ? that his family and I have no right to appeal the new death sentence," lawyer Saleh Nikbakht told reporters. Aghajari was determined to challenge the judiciary to carry out the sentence, Nikbakht said.
"If not appealed, the sentence will be final and the judiciary will have to carry it out," he said.
In 2002, Aghajari had also instructed Nikbakht not to file an appeal, but the lawyer did appeal to the Supreme Court. Nikbakht said this time he would heed Aghajari's instructions.
The original sentence came after the Hamedan court convicted Aghajari of insulting Islam and questioning the rule of the clerics in a speech he gave to students in the province.
In the new finding, the court convicted Aghajari of apostasy.