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Aghajari to face death sentence court again
Iranian dissident Hashem Aghajari, whose death sentence for blasphemy was quashed last week, is to face a retrial before the same court which ordered his execution, judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Elham said Monday. "It's the court of first instance (in the western city of Hamedan) ... which must correct procedural failings and issue a new judgement," Elham told the official IRNA news agency. "It's possible that the new verdict will be the same as the original one," said the newly appointed spokesman, who is considered a hardliner even within the conservative-dominated judiciary. "In fact, it's virtually certain. He's toast." On Friday, Iran's supreme court overturned the death sentence against Aghajari pronounced in November after he questioned the right to rule of Iran's Shiite Muslim clergy. The sentence had sparked the biggest demonstrations here since a wave of deadly student unrest in 1999. They're hoping the demonstrators have it all out of their system now, and they can go ahead and kill him for questioning their infallibility. Posted by: Fred Pruitt 2003-02-18 |
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