Iran sentenced seven men and a woman to prison after their convictions over allegedly aiding two men who were earlier executed for killing a paramilitary volunteer during nationwide protests last year, The Associated Press reported Wednesday, citing Iranian state media.
The report by the judiciary’s Mizan news agency offered the first official confirmation of the sentences apparently handed down earlier by a Revolutionary Court in the city of Karaj, where the November slaying happened.
The report said the country’s Supreme Court upheld the sentences handed down following an appeal by the lawyers for those convicted.
The defendants were found guilty of committing “warfare” and of “corruption on Earth,” a term often used to describe attempts to undermine the Iranian government, Mizan said.
Among those sentenced, Dr. Hamid Qarahasnalu received a 15-year sentence, while his wife Farzaneh received a five-year sentence, Mizan said. The two must serve that time in a prison far from their homes.
Their sentencing comes as part of the case that saw two men, identified as Mohammad Mehdi Karami and Mohammad Hosseini, executed in January.
The two had been convicted of killing Ruhollah Ajamian, a member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s volunteer Basij force, in the city of Karaj, some 40 kilometers northwest of Tehran, on November 3.
The nationwide protests in Iran erupted after the September death of Mahsa Amini while in police custody over violating the country’s dress code.
A government crackdown on the demonstrations which broke out after Amini’s death resulted in hundreds of people being killed, including dozens of security personnel, and thousands arrested.
Iran has also cracked down on journalists who reported about Amini’s case. The two women journalists who helped to bring the story to the world's attention have now spent almost a year in Evin after being arrested in September.
Iranian authorities have questioned or arrested over 90 journalists since the nationwide protests last year.