Posted on 11/17/2009 6:21:12 PM PST by nuconvert
TEHRAN, IRAN - Five people have been sentenced to death and 81 have received jail terms of up to 15 years in connection with unrest after Iran's disputed June election, state broadcaster IRIB reported on Tuesday.
Citing a statement by the public relations office of Tehran's provincial court, it said those sentenced to death were affiliated to or members of 'counter-revolutionary groups'. It said the verdicts can be appealed.
It was not immediately clear if the five were the same as those reported by an Iranian rights group earlier this week to have been sentenced to death. The IRIB report did not name any of the accused.
The presidential poll held more than five months ago triggered mass demonstrations by supporters of defeated pro-reform candidates, who say it was rigged to secure hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election.
Iranian authorities have rejected the election fraud charges and portrayed the street demonstrations as foreign-backed efforts to undermine the Islamic Republic.
Thousands of people were arrested as the Revolutionary Guards and an Islamic militia quelled the protests during Iran's worst internal crisis since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
VERDICTS 'NOT FINAL'
Most of them have since been freed but more than 100 leading reformers, activists, journalists and others have been put on trial accused of fomenting the unrest. The opposition has denounced the trials. Several jail sentences have been announced.
'So far, verdicts have been issued on 89 of the cases, of whom five have been given the execution sentence because of their affiliation to or membership in counter-revolutionary groups,' Tuesday's court statement said.
Eighty-one people were sentenced to prison terms ranging from six months to 15 years. There were also three suspended jail sentences.
(Excerpt) Read more at asiaone.com ...
why are the ACLU types sop silent? This is wrong
Will Mr. Lunch-Bucket (aka Joe Bi-dim) attend their funerals?
Holding my breath for Sting and Amnesty International to open a branch office in Tehran.
Wait, they’re too busy protesting Guantanamo, where no prisoners have been killed.
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