Thursday, December 2, 1999 Iran's leading reformist cleric defiant in prison REUTERS
TEHRAN, DEC 1: Reformist cleric Abdollah Nouri, locked up in Iran's most notorious prison for religious and political dissent, has rejected all calls to appeal against his landmark conviction. Nouri's lawyer Mohsen Rohami said his client, a 50-year-old Shiite Muslim cleric, remained defiant behind bars, rejecting proposals from political and religious allies that he fight the verdict of the hardline special court for clergy. ``I believed the special court and its jury to be illegitimate and unlawful from the very beginning. Therefore, what can I expect from such a court and such a jury?'' Rohami quoted Nouri as saying. His remarks were published in major pro-reform newspapers today. ``They did not listen to my defence in the original case, how do you expect they will take my defence into account upon an appeal?'' Nouri said. Under the special court's rules of procedure, the same panel would consider any appeal. Rohami also said his client had asked for a pair of sneakers so that he could exercise in the prison yard and some utensils in which to prepare his food after his religious fast. Nouri was rushed to prison on Saturday immediately after being sentenced in what his lawyer said was a violation of Iran's code of criminal procedure which provides for a 20-day grace period to allow for an appeal. Rohami also said the special court, dominated by conservative theologians, was unhappy about the publication of Nouri's earlier comments and his public defence, which tackled some of the most sensitive issues in the Islamic republic. As a result, Rohami said, the court whisked Nouri to Evin Prison - once the scene of routine post-revolutionary executions. Nouri's six-day trial, which also led to the banning of his outspoken and popular newspaper Khordad, broached many taboo subjects previously debated only in private. These include constitutional limits on the absolute powers of Iran's supreme leader, the treatment of dissidents and others outside the official political mainstream and relations with arch-foe the United States. Reformers have likened the clergy courts to the inquisitions of medieval Europe and say that the conviction was nothing more than an attempt to bar Nouri, a close ally of President Mohammad Khatami, from February's parliamentary polls. ``From the very beginning the trial was based on getting me convicted. I defended the views of society and I will not budge from my position,'' said Nouri, who now shares a cell with three fellow prisoners at Evin. Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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