Iran hands down 21 jail terms over provincial unrest
TEHRAN, Sept 16 (AFP) - An Iranian revolutionary court has sentenced
21 people to prison in connection with July's bloody unrest in the provinces,
including some linked to the outlawed opposition, newspapers reported Thursday.
The 21 were given prison sentences between three months and nine years
for being the main instigators of the disturbances in the provincial capital
of Tabriz, which erupted along with six days of riots in Tehran, the Hamshahri
paper said.
Twelve are students while several of the others have links to either
the outlawed Iraq-based People's Mujahedeen or the banned but tolerated
Iran Freedom Movement, the paper reported, citing the head of the revolutionary
court in East Azerbaijan province, Najaf Aqazadeh.
He did not give any indication of when or how the 21 had been tried
and sentenced, but said nine other people could be added to the list of
"main instigators" once the investigation is completed.
Aqazadeh said 260 people were arrested over the Tabriz unrest but that
investigators have not yet identified the killer of a theology student
in the provincial capital, one of three people Iranian officials have acknowledged
died during the disturbances.
Two others were killed in Tehran, according to official figures, while
students and moderate papers said at least five people died and dozens
more were wounded in the worst unrest here since the aftermath of the 1979
Islamic revolution.
A Tabriz student organization said security forces opened fire on a
student sit-in, leaving 15 people with gunshot wounds, including three
women. More than 80 others were injured after being beaten with clubs and
chains, they said.
Aqazadeh's announcement comes just four days after Tehran's revolutionary
court announced four people were sentenced to death in connection with
the unrest in the capital.
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