Iranian religious scholar gets 20 months in prison

Ahmad Ghabel

Islamic Republic judiciary sentenced religious scholar Ahmad Ghabel to 20 months in prison for “propaganda against the regime and insulting Ayatollah Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader.”

Jaras website reports that Ghabel was given one year for propaganda against the regime and another eight months for insulting the Leader. He is also banned from giving out interviews and from travelling away from his place of residence for three years. In addition, he was fined $4000 for possession of a satellite dish and his laptop was confiscated.

Ahmad Ghabel was arrested last December while he was travelling to Qom in order to attend the funeral of the dissident cleric, Grand Ayatollah Montazeri. He was released on bail after 170 days in jail last March.

After his release, Ghabel told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that the prison authorities at Mashhad’s Vakilabad prison carried out a mass execution of 70 inmates imprisoned on drug charges.

After revealing this information, Ghabel was recalled back to prison in September.

Ghabel’s wife, Marzieh Pasdar has told Jaras that she will not attend her husband’s trials anymore due to the “inappropriate and indecent behaviour of the Guards.”

She added that her husband has committed no crime and all his speeches and writings have been in “good faith and benevolent acts of concern for the Islamic system.”