(Reuters) – Iran sentenced a female human rights activist to six years in prison on Saturday, the latest sign of its determination to punish those the state views as “seditionists” for protesting last year’s presidential election.
Shiva Nazar Ahari, 26, was arrested in December on her way to the funeral of Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, the spiritual mentor of the Green movement which opposed the re-election of hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad last June.
She was convicted of gathering and plotting to commit crime (against the state), propaganda against the establishment and “moharebe” or waging war against God, a crime that can be punished by death under the Islamic Republic’s Sharia law.
In addition to the jail term she has to pay a $400 fine as an alternative punishment to 74 lashes, her lawyer Mohammad Sharif said.
