Iran's Supreme Court lifted the death sentence ordered...

Iran's Supreme Court lifted the death sentence ordered in the case of a university professor whose sentencing provoked nationwide demonstrations.
Hashem Aghajari, a history professor at Tehran's Teachers Training University, had been condemned to death on November 6, 2002 for insulting Islam and questioning clerical rule during a speech in June 2002.
"The death sentence against Aghajari has been revoked by a majority of votes by the review judges. Three out of four of the judges voted to revoke the sentence," said Ayatollah Mohammad Sajjadi, one of the judges who heard the appeal in the Supreme Court in Qom.
"The decision came after weeks of careful study and scrutinizing of Aghajari's entire speech. Three out of four judges decided that the charges against Aghajari was not compatible with his speech," said Sajjadi.
He said the fourth judge opposed the lifting the sentence.
The Supreme Court would refer Aghajari's case to an appeals court in Hamedan, the western Iranian city where he was convicted, for it to review the remainder of the sentence, Sajjadi said.
Aghajari, who is in prison, also was sentenced to 74 lashes, banned from teaching for 10 years and banished to three remote cities for eight years. Iranian courts issue multiple sentences in cases where they want to make an example of the accused.
Aghajari's sentencing in provoked the biggest student protests in Iran in three years, and highlighted the power struggle between the country's liberals and hard-liners.
The parliament denounced the verdict as "disgusting" and President Mohammad Khatami said it "should never have been issued."
But hard-liners defended the verdict. Conservatives, who dominate government bodies such as the judiciary and police, oppose reformists allied to Khatami, accusing them of undermining the principles of the 1979 Islamic revolution.
The ruling was a rare climbdown by the hardline judiciary. The decision had been awaited since the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, attempted to defuse student unrest by ordering the judiciary to review the verdict.