NCRI – The first post-1979 revolution President of the University of Tehran, Dr. Mohammad Maleki, has been charged by the regime with moharebeh (waging war against God), the state-run ILNA reported on Saturday. Thus far, he has spent years in prison for his opposition to the clerical regime’s policies.
The state-run ILNA quoted Dr. Maleki’s lawyer as saying that his client “has been charged with moharebeh on the score of having contacts with an illegal organization and in accordance with Article 186 of the Islamic Punishment Act.”
The charge of moharebeh, according to the regime’s laws, carries the death penalty. Article 186 of the regime’s Islamic Punishment Act deems those in contact with illegal organizations, even on a political and non-violent level, “moharebs.”
Dr. Maleki, 76, is a well-known figure in Iran’s academia and was arrested when post-election protests erupted in June. Suffering from prostate cancer, diabetes, and heart complications, he has been hospitalized several times during his imprisonment. After spending 191 days in prison under such conditions, he was released on bail on March 1.
His lawyer added that there are other charges against Dr. Maleki, including “insulting Ayatollah Khomeini [regime’s founder] and Ayatollah Khamenei [regime’s Supreme Leader] as well as inciting propaganda against the establishment.” A hearing has been scheduled for April 13, 2010.
Dr. Maleki set up a system of management councils for the first time at the University of Tehran. For his opposition to the regime’s so-called “cultural revolution” in 1980, which was in effect a coup to purge universities from democratic professors and students, he was arrested in July 1981 without a warrant or clarification of charges. He spent 5 years in prison under deplorable conditions and tortures.
