Iranian Reform Advocate Gets Prison Sentence

The boldest ally of Iran’s reformist president was sentenced to five years in prison Saturday, the latest twist in a power struggle over free debate, democracy and tolerance.

The move against Abdollah Nouri, 50, a former interior minister and director of the popular Khordad daily newspaper, was the most ambitious bid by hard-liners to cling to power despite waning popularity.

A clerical jury earlier this month found Nouri guilty of 15 charges, including insulting Islam, publishing sacrilegious articles and opposing the teachings of Iran’s revered revolutionary leader, the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, through his newspaper.

With the verdict, Nouri also was banned from running in upcoming parliamentary elections and from holding any media-related position for five years, state-run Tehran radio said. Executives at Khordad confirmed the verdict.

The Tehran court fined Nouri $5,000 and ordered the paper to close, it said.

During the four-week trial, Nouri turned the case around to focus on Iran’s Islamic establishment, charging that the 1979 revolution in the name of democracy had gone astray.

His greatest challenge had been to the legitimacy of Iran’s unelected supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Khamenei succeeded Khomeini in 1989. He leads the hard-liners and has used his absolute powers to stall reforms initiated by President Mohammad Khatami, who was elected by a landslide in May 1997.

“Everyone, even the leader, is bound by the constitution and does not have unlimited powers,” Nouri told the court during his trial.

Mahmoud Shams, the editor in chief of the reformist Asr-e-Azadegan newspaper, who was still awaiting a verdict on charges that include insulting Islam, said his trial and Nouri’s conviction were steps toward democracy.

“What is happening to Mr. Nouri and myself is the price of democracy,” he said.