TEHRAN — Iran ignored appeals by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and even rock star Sting and sentenced an Iranian-American academic to 12 years in prison Tuesday for his alleged role in anti-government protests after the country’s disputed presidential election.
The sentence for Kian Taj bakhsh was the longest prison term yet in a mass trial of more than 100 opposition figures, activists and journalists in the post-election turmoil.
At the same time, Iran allowed another defendant to leave the country — Canadian-Iranian Maziar Bahari, a Newsweek journalist arrested in the same crackdown who had been freed on bail over the weekend.
Bahari joined his British wife, who is in the last days of her pregnancy, in London, Newsweek said on its website Tuesday. It was the first word that Bahari had left Iran.
Tajbakhsh’s heavy sentence signaled that Tehran was sticking to a tough line overall on the political unrest. It came amid calls in Iran for the prosecution of the most senior opposition figure and suggestions that three American hikers, detained after accidentally crossing into Iran, may face charges.
Tajbakhsh, a social scientist and urban planner, was arrested by security forces at his Tehran home July 9 — the only American detained in the crackdown that crushed giant street protests by hundreds of thousands of people after the June 12 election. The opposition claims the vote was rigged in favor of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Washington has repeatedly denounced Tajbakhsh’s arrest. Clinton appealed in August for his release, and he was specially named in a call by the British rock star Sting to free all political prisoners in Iran.
In addition to Tajbakhsh, Iran holds three American hikers — Joshua Fattal, Shane Bauer and Sarah Shourd, who were detained in July after straying across the border from Iraq.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Tuesday that investigators are still questioning the three and that their fate rests with judicial authorities. Mottaki gave no other details, but his comments suggested that formal charges were still possible.
