Iranian professor freed from prison

TEHRAN, Iran – A university professor who was twice condemned to death for blasphemy walked out of prison on Saturday night, free after a two-year battle with hard-line judges that often saw mass student demonstrations in his favor.

Hashem Aghajari emerged from Evin prison in north Tehran to a warm welcome by more than two dozen relatives and friends, his daughter Maryam Aghajari told the Associated Press.

“Finally, my dad is free,” she said.

Maryam said her father was released on bail of $122,500. The bond had to be posted because Aghajari had not served his full 3-year sentence. He has spent more than two years behind bars.

A professor at Tehran’s Teachers Training University, Hashem Aghajari was prosecuted for a speech in June 2002 in which he urged people to question religious teachings, saying the words of clerics should not be considered sacred simply because they were part of history. He said people should not slavishly follow hard-line interpretations of Islam.

His comments enraged the clerical establishment. He was charged with blasphemy, insulting Islam and questioning clerical rule.

But when a court convicted him and condemned him to death, hundreds of thousands of students demonstrated in his support.

His case became a test case in the power struggle between reformists and hard-liners over the future of Iran, with liberals seeking greater freedom and conservatives defending Islamic orthodoxy. As the demonstrations grew, Iran’s supreme leader instructed the courts to review Aghajari’s trial.

At the end of a retrial, he was again condemned to death.

President Mohammad Khatami spoke on his behalf, saying Aghajari had done more for Iran than the “inexperienced” judge who sentenced him.

Again the Supreme Court overturned his conviction.

Finally, earlier this month, a court convicted Aghajari of the lesser charges of insulting sacred Islamic tenets.

It sentenced him to three years’ imprisonment with a further two years suspended.

The sentence deprived Aghajari of certain rights for five years, meaning he cannot work in the civil service or stand in elections.

During his trial, Aghajari defended the cause of democratic reform and denounced hard-line clerics whom he accused of suppressing freedom in the name of Islam. He denied that he had insulted Islamic tenets.

In his testimony, Aghajari said he stood for “an Islam that brings about freedom and is compatible with democracy and human rights.

“I have opposed interpretations that justify suppression and dictatorship in the name of Islam,” he told the court.

He also said he had “no hope” of justice and repeatedly accused the presiding judge of bias.