5 sentenced to prison over 2009 Iran post-election unrest

Prison sentences have been handed down to five people for their involvement in the unrest that followed Iran's 2009 presidential election, says a judicial source. 

The prison sentences have been issued over the past two or three weeks and they can be appealed, said Iran’s Judiciary Spokesman Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei on Monday.

Arrest warrants have been issued for a number of other suspects, said the spokesman, adding those who are currently outside Iran will be tried in absentia if they do not appear in court.

The high-ranking judge, who has presided over a number of trials involving political cases in the past, said the new verdicts also include travel bans for “two or three people,” without elaborating on their identity.

The 2009 reelection of former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sparked street protests in the capital, Tehran, over what some believed was election fraud. Supervisory bodies, however, rejected the allegation, saying those behind the unrest were seditionists who sought to overthrow the Islamic system.

The sporadic demonstrations ended after millions of people took to the streets in Tehran in late December and demanded the trial of those behind the unrest.

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