Iranian blogger critical of government gets jail term

Mehdi Khazali, an Iranian political activist and physician, has been sentenced to six years in prison by a preliminary court for the charges of “propaganda against the regime and assembly and collusion against national security

.”

The Fars News Agency reports that a Tehran Revolutionary Court gave Khazali a five-year and a one-year sentence for the two crimes.

Khazali’s attorney the verdict will be appealed. Khazali was released from Evin Prison in June of this year, three weeks after he finally ended a hunger strike.

In November of 2012, Khazali was arrested at a literary gathering along with other participants. He had already been a target of persecution and arrests for criticizing government policy on his blogs.

Kazali is the son of the Assembly of Experts member, hardliner Ayatollah Khazali who has disowned his son for his politcal views

ZAMANEH