TEHRAN, Aug 1: Iran has sentenced two Kurdish dissident journalists to death for mounting an “armed struggle against the system,” a judiciary spokesman said on Tuesday.

“Adnan Hassanpour and Abdolvahed ‘Hiva’ Botimar have been sentenced to death. But they have 20 days to appeal their verdicts,” the spokesman said.

A judiciary official said: “They have taken arms to topple the system.”

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said: “A Revolutionary Court in Marivan sentenced Hassanpour and Botimar to death on July 16.” The pair had written for a Kurdish magazine called Aso (Horizons) before it was banned in August 2005.—Reuters