TEHRAN: Eleven members of an Iranian opposition group accused of attacking mosques and public property have been sentenced to jail terms of up to six years, state news agency IRNA said.
Hassan Heidari, deputy prosecutor general of Khorasan Razavi province in northeast Iran, said the 11 defendants, including women, were also convicted of "propaganda against the system of the Islamic republic". Several of them were found guilty of having set fire to two mosques in the city of Masshad, IRNA said, adding that the rulings were subject to appeal.
According to Iranian authorities, the accused form part of an opposition group called "Restart" which was established by Mohammad Hosseini, a onetime game show host on state television who has gone into exile.
He is alleged to have called on social media for Iranians to attack mosques, banks and centres run by the Basij, a hardline militia linked to the Revolutionary Guards. In October, several banks in relatively affluent northern Tehran were targeted in nighttime attacks. At least 25 people were killed in a wave of social unrest that swept towns and cities across Iran between December 28 and January 1.
Harvey Weinstein. — AFP FileNEW YORK: Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 conviction for sexual assault and rape was...
Liberal Justice Elena Kagan on Sept. 13, 2016. — Slate website WASHINGTON: U.S. Supreme Court justices, wading back...
A representational image of inmates behind jail bars. — Unsplash/FileMOSCOW: A Russian court on Wednesday ordered...
Sudanese soldiers guard the surrounding area of the UNMIS compound in El-Fasher, the administrative capital of North...
US quietly shipped ATACMS missiles to Ukraine. — Report news agencyWASHINGTON: The United States in recent weeks...
US President Joe Biden during his address in California. — AFP FileWASHINGTON: President Joe Biden signed a...