Iran dissident angry at verdict

A leading Iranian reformist, whose death sentence sparked public protests until it was lifted, has been sentenced by an appeals court to just under four years in jail.

Hashem Aghajari, a university professor in Tehran, was told about the verdict in June, but his lawyer, Saleh Nikbakht, said he did not announce it then as the date coincided with student-led protests against the governing Islamic establishment.

Mr Aghajari has filed an appeal against the new sentence.

He has been in jail since being sentenced to death last year for blasphemy. That sentence was overturned earlier this year by the Iranian Supreme Court which ordered the retrial.

In a letter to his lawyer, Mr Aghajari said the verdict produced by the retrial was illegal because it was held behind closed doors.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service