Convicted TV producer gets sentence cut on appeal

The appeals court has reduced the sentence for Iranian writer and TV producer Mostafa Azizi to three years in jail and a fine.

Mostafa Azizi

The Joualism is not a Crime website reports that two years of the sentence must be served, because according to the new penal code, when someone receives prison sentences for different charges, the term can be reduced to the longest sentence.

Azizi’s lawyer has also reported that the appeals court has decided that for the charge of “assembly and collusion against national security”, the accused will have to pay a fine.

In the preliminary court. Last June, Azizi was sentenced to a total of eight years for the charges of “assembly and collusion against national security”, “propaganda against the regime” and “insulting the leader”.

The 53-year-old writer and TV producer, who has produced several popular programs for Iran’s state broadcaster, emigrated to Canada in 2010 but was arrested when he retued for a visit to Iran two years ago. After 13 months in jail, he was recently given a furlough to spend Norooz with his family.