Late Iranian Dissident Cleric’s Son Freed After Sentence Suspended

RFL/RE – Iran’s judiciary has suspended the six-year prison term of the son of prominent deceased dissident cleric Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri. The semi-official ISNA news agency reported on March 4 that the court ordered the six-year term of Ahmad Montazeri suspended at the request of an unidentified senior cleric (after being approved by the Supreme Leader).

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Ahmad Montazeri
Shocking Montazeri Sentence Reveals a Prosecution Lacking Legal or Moral Legitimacy

The report said Montazeri had been released after agreeing not to “take any action against the regime.”

In November, a court handed down the sentence after convicting Montazeri of antistate activity for releasing an audiotape of his father criticizing the execution of thousands of prisoners in 1988 under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

Montazeri’s father, Ayatollah Hossein Montazeri, died in 2009. He was a close associate of Khomeini, the father of the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, before becoming an outspoken critic of Iran’s ruling elite.

Arash Ashoorinia’s photos of Grand Ayatollah Montazeri’s Funeral

Based on reporting by AP and AFP