Sentenced to six years in prison

Journalist and human rights activist Shiva Nazar-Ahari has been sentenced to six years in prison on charges of conspiracy and anti-government propaganda. She has not as yet been jailed and has decided to appeal against her conviction.

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September 14, 2010 - Blogger granted conditional release Reporters Without Borders welcomes blogger and women’s rights activist Shiva Nazar Ahari’s conditional release on 12 September pending the outcome of her trial. Her family had to pledge to pay 500 million tomans (400,000 euros) if she violates the terms of her release. Ahari’s trial before a Tehran revolutionary court on charges of “mohareb” (being an enemy of God), plotting against national security and anti-government propaganda began on 28 August. Her lawyer contests all the charges and still hopes to obtain her acquittal. The court has yet to issue its verdict. The editor of the Azad Zan (Women’s Liberation) website (http://azadiezan.blogspot.com), Ahari had been held since 20 December 2009, when the police arrested her on the eve of dissident cleric Hossein Ali Montazeri’s funeral. After a previous arrest on 14 June 2009, she was held for five months before being freed on a bond of 300 million tomans (235,000 euros). These exorbitant bond sums are a permanent threat hanging over Ahari and her family. All their possessions would have to be liquidated if a court ever found grounds for demanding payment in full. According to the Iranian constitution and the international treaties Iran has signed, Ahari should be acquitted.