TEHRAN, Nov 10: Tensions were simmering in Iran on Sunday over a death sentence for a popular liberal academic, with a leading reformist lawmaker saying he would soon be freed and students gathering for their largest protest in years.

Parliamentary speaker Mehdi Karubi said Hashem Aghajari, a critic of the conservatives’ leading role in government, would be released shortly and his case had been “settled”.

“I say to his family that (the execution) will not take place and even that with the help of God he will soon return to his family,” Karubi told parliament in a speech broadcast on state radio.

It was unclear whether he was speaking from personal conviction or some deal had been done to win Aghajari’s release.

The 45-year-old Aghajari, who teaches history at Tehran University and was arrested on Aug 8, was sentenced to death for apostasy.

The close ally of reformist President Mohammed Khatami, who also lost a leg in the 1980-88 war with Iraq, was further sentenced to eight years in jail, 74 lashes and a 10-year ban on teaching.

His sentences have not yet been officially conveyed to the defence. There is a 20-day period during which appeals can be lodged after they are.

Karubi claimed the sentencing of Aghajari on Wednesday by a court in Hamedan, western Iran, where the liberal academic made his offending speech earlier this year, was “the decision of a single judge”.

In an open letter, 178 deputies voiced their support for Karubi and called on judiciary chief Ayatollah Mahmud Hashemi-Shahrudi to overturn the verdict and set Aghajari free.

Two reformist MPs from Hamedan, Mohammad Reza Ali Hosseini and Hassan Loghmanian, also submitted their resignations in protest.

“It is clear that the parliament is ineffective and these verdicts are continuing. Our electorate is asking questions and we cannot answer them,” Loghmanian said.

“That is why we have resigned to protest against this mediaeval penalty.”

Loghmanian said other members of parliament could follow suit, though they need the approval of parliament to resign.

At Tehran University some 1,200 students, about half of them women, gathered inside a lecture hall to also denounce “the mediaeval verdict” against Aghajari in the biggest political rally in the Islamic Republic in more than three years.

Some 400 students gathered for a similar protest on Saturday night.

In July 1999, a demonstration on the same campus was crushed by hardline Islamic volunteers. That led to another six days of deadly clashes with security services which landed dozens of students in jail.—AFP