The Special Clerical Court in the city of Qom, central Iran, has sentenced Ahmad Montazeri, son of the late Grand Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri, to 21 years imprisonment and to be stripped of any clerical authority.
The ruling, which was notified to Ahmad Montazeri on 27 November 2016, was in reaction to his decision in August 2016 to publish for the first time a 1988 audio recording of damning remarks made by Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri, the former successor to the Iranian regime’s founder Ruhollah Khomeini, during a meeting with the perpetrators of the 1988 massacre.
Ahmad Montazeri was sentenced on charges of “acting against national security,” “publishing a classified audio clip” and “propaganda against the state.”
The verdict against Montazeri stated that it had been reduced such that he must serve at least six years behind bars and that the decision to ban him from clerical activities will be suspended for three years.
The audio recording is of a conversation dating back to 15 August 1988 between Ayatollah Montazeri and members of the “Death Committee”, Hossein-Ali Nayyeri (a religious judge), Morteza Eshraqi (deputy public prosecutor), Ibrahim Raisi (deputy prosecutor) and Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi (representing the Intelligence Ministry).
In this audio recording Ayatollah Montazeri unveiled the scope of this crime, which was tantamount to a crime against humanity and genocide.
Click here to read the translation of the verdict handed down against Ahmad Montazeri, as published on his Telegram account.