Former Khatami Minister gets six years

The BBC reports that Mohsen Aminzadeh, a deputy foreign minister in the governments of President Khatami, has been jailed for six years for his support of the defeated candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, he was convicted of organising protests, disturbing security and spreading propaganda against the system, his lawyer said.

Speaking to the semi-official Isna news agency on today, Mr Aminzadeh's lawyer said his client "was charged with organising gatherings and disturbing the country's security, as well as spreading propaganda against the system by giving interviews to foreign channels,"

Aminzadeh joins more than 80 people who have been jailed for up to 15 years by the government following show trials that would not have looked out of place in the Stalinist era. He will share prison space with former government spokesman Abdullah Ramezanzadeh, former vice-president Mohammad Ali Abtahi and former deputy economy minister Mohsen Safaie Farahani in prison.

Once again the sentences serve no purpose but to crush protests. In that the regime has failed and failed utterly. I look forward to the day that the regime itself is called to account for its crimes.