Comment by Jason on September 6, 2010 at 10:10am

TEHRAN — A vocal female human rights activist and journalist went on trial in Iran Saturday on charges including "warring against God," which is punishable by death, her lawyer was reported as saying.

Shiva Nazar-Ahari, 26, went on trial "on charges of Moharebeh (warring against God), conspiring and gathering to commit a crime, propaganda against the regime and harming public order," lawyer Mohammad Sharif told ILNA news agency.

"After presenting the last defence, the end of the trial was declared," he said. "We are awaiting the verdict and I am not pessimistic about the fate of the case."

Sharif did not offer further details and could not be reached by AFP for comment.

But Kaleme.com, the website of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, said Nazar-Ahari, jailed since December 2009, had also been charged with ties with the exiled opposition People's Mujahedeen of Iran (PMOI), the Tehran regime's most hated foe.

"In the court, she expressed repulsion at this organisation (PMOI), denied any links with them and dismissed the accusation as completely baseless," the website said.

Nazar-Ahari was first arrested shortly after Iran's controversial June 2009 presidential election and released on bail after three months.

She was re-arrested in December while on her way to the religious city of Qom for the funeral of top dissident cleric Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri.

Iranian authorities launched a widespread crackdown on critics in the wake of the 2009 presidential election which saw Mahmoud Ahmadinejad re-instated in power sparking mass street protests amid allegations that the poll was rigged.

Scores of reformist politicians, journalists and rights activists seen as close to the opposition have been rounded up and many have been sentenced to heavy jail terms on charges of harming national security and provoking unrest.

At least 10 people arrested in street protests have also been given death sentences.

Since the 1979 Islamic revolution, the Iranian regime has executed scores of opponents after finding them guilty of "Moharebeh" in cases such as bombing and taking up arms against the Islamic establishment.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jwSqbEN-PMh98Php...

Comment by Mario Rodgers on September 6, 2010 at 3:49pm

Somebody needs to stand up against these thugs, for the sake of all humanity and for human rights and for secularism.

Comment by kelltrill on September 6, 2010 at 4:13pm

I wish groups such as Amnesty International held more sway over judgments such as this. What was the point of drawing up the Universal Declaration of Human Rights when there is no international body established to monitor countries renowned for such atrocious crimes against humanity, especially when these crimes are perpetuated in the name of a god? People will throw their toys out of their cots and draw media attention in their home countries, and people such as you and I will sign petitions, blog, and write emails, and all of these people will be murdered regardless because the people accusing them are doing so under the safety blanket of their Muslim government.

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