Tehran (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Mohammed Ali Abtahi, vice-president of Iran between 1997 and 2005, was released on bail on payment of a sum equal to about 700 thousand dollars. The reformist leader had been arrested during the first days of antigovernment protests that erupted after the elections of 12 June, in which outgoing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared victor.
Convicted in first grade to six years in jail for "fomenting disorder" - the official IRNA news agency reported - Abtahi has 20 days to appeal against the sentence. Anonymous court sources add that the former vice-president is guilty of "undermining national security and anti-government propaganda." According to Iranian law, anyone convicted at first instance to more than three months may be released on bail pending appeal.
In recent days, the Tehran Justice Department had confirmed that to date, the court has issued five death sentences and 81 prison sentences against the protagonists of the anti-government riots last June. The number of activists imprisoned stands at more than 200, many of them awaiting trial.
In August, Mohammed Ali Abtahi confessed, in a message circulated by the state television that he had provoked street demonstrations, he added that the allegation of fraud "was unwarranted" and was fomented with the sole aim of "creating unrest”. Relatives of the reformist leader contend that the statements were extracted by force and under threat of government authorities.