Iran jails prominent lawyer for 9 years

AP: Iran’s hard-line judiciary has sentenced a prominent rights lawyer to nine years in jail and barred him from working as an attorney for 10 years after he was convicted of seeking to overthrow the ruling system.

The Associated Press

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s hard-line judiciary has sentenced a prominent rights lawyer to nine years in jail and barred him from working as an attorney for 10 years after he was convicted of seeking to overthrow the ruling system.

Lawyer Mohammad Ali Dadkhah, a founder along with Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi of the Center for the Defenders of Human Rights, has also been banned from teaching at university for 10 years.

The semi-official ISNA news agency reported Monday that the lawyer has also been sentenced to pay the equivalent of $3,000 dollars for possessing a satellite TV receiver in his apartment. Dadkhah says he will appeal.

The lawyer represented activists and opposition supporters arrested after the disputed 2009 presidential elections.