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 TEHRAN (AFP) — Two Iranian journalists who wrote for publications for Iran's ethnic minorities have been handed jail terms of up to 11 years, the Kargozaran newspaper reported.
Mohammad Sadigh Kaboudvand, a member of Iran's Kurdish minority, was sentenced to 11 years in prison after creating a human rights association for the Kurds. He is also editor of the weekly Payam-e Mardom-e Kurdestan (Message to the People of Kurdestan). Saeed Matinpour, who is reported to have written for the Yarpagh weekly in the Azeri language, was sentenced to eight years in prison, said the newspaper, citing his lawyer Mohammad Ali Dadkhah. The two journalists can both appeal the verdicts. Kaboudvand is currently detained after failing to come up with the 160,000-dollar bail demanded after his arrest in July 2007. Matinpour is free after having paid a bail worth 530,000 dollars. |
