THE SHAH ALWAYS FALLS:

Iran professor will not appeal sentence (ALI AKBAR DAREINI, May 4, 2004. ASSOCIATED PRESS)

A university professor has decided not to appeal a reinstated death sentence, effectively challenging Iran's hard-line judges to execute him for criticizing clerical rule, his lawyer said Tuesday.

The original sentence handed down to Hashem Aghajari in 2002 provoked massive student demonstrations and street battles with hard-line vigilantes. The uproar highlighted the power struggle between reformists and conservatives in Iran.

The Supreme Court overturned the death penalty last year. But the original court in the western province of Hamedan province has reinstated it, a provincial judicial official disclosed Monday.

"Professor Aghajari told me Monday evening that his family and I have no right to appeal the new death sentence," Saleh Nikbakht told reporters Tuesday.

Aghajari was determined to challenge the judiciary to carry out the sentence, Nikbakht said. "If not appealed, the sentence will be final and the judiciary will have to carry it out," he said. [...]

"Everything has returned to square one," Nikbakht said. "It's a disgusting verdict and a great insult to the judicial system."

The lawyer said the court was penalizing a person who had dedicated his life to promoting a moderate version of Islam.

Easier to say "give me liberty of give me death" than to actually make the choice. The professor and his lawyer are heroes.

Posted by Orrin Judd at May 4, 2004 10:43 PM