Dissident Iran professor free after two-year battle
Associated Press
July 31, 2004, 9:51PM
TEHRAN, IRAN - A university professor who was twice condemned to death for blasphemy walked out of prison on Saturday night, free after a two-year battle with hard-line judges and mass student demonstrations in his favor.
Hashem Aghajari emerged from Evin prison in north Tehran to a warm welcome by relatives and friends, his daughter Maryam Aghajari told The Associated Press.
Maryam said her father was released on bail of $122,500. The bond had to be posted because he had not served his 3-year sentence. He spent more than two years behind bars.
Hashem Aghajari was prosecuted for a June 2002 speech in which he urged people to question religious teachings.
His comments enraged the clerical establishment. He was charged with blasphemy, insulting Islam and questioning clerical rule.
When a court condemned him to death, hundreds of thousands demonstrated.
Last month, a court convicted Aghajari of the lesser charges of insulting sacred Islamic tenets. It sentenced him to three years' imprisonment.
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/world/2712806
Iraqi judge to visit Iran about Saddam
The Washington Times
July 31, 2004
Tehran, Iran, Jul. 31 (UPI) -- Iran said Saturday the top Iraqi judge hearing the trial of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein will visit Iran to make a case against the former leader.
The official Iranian Islamic Republic News Agency quoted Hussein Kazemi Qommi, the Iranian chargé d'affaires in Baghdad as saying Judge Salem Chalabi is expected in Iran as part of the case being built against Saddam.
Qommi said Chalabi's visit came within the "framework of the lawsuit that Iran is preparing against Saddam regarding the crimes he committed" during the 1980-88 Iraq-Iran war.
The diplomat did not mention a date for such a visit.
IRNA quoted Qommi as accusing the former Iraqi president of using chemical weapons against his country, saying the "dictator used chemical bombs against defenseless (IRANIAN) civilians and killed prisoners of war."
http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20040731-103543-7883r.htm