Report: Iran sentences critic filmmaker to 3 1/2 years in prison over insulting leaders

Iran sentences critic filmmaker to prison

TEHRAN, Iran — An Iranian newspaper says a court has sentenced a prominent critic filmmaker to three-and-a-half years in prison for his role in the post-election turmoil.

The pro-reform Sharq daily said on Sunday that filmmaker Mohammad Nourizad was convicted on charges of spreading propaganda against the clerical establishment and insulting the country’s leaders.

Nourizad was arrested in November after writing a protest letter to the country’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, urging him to apologize to the nation for the bloody crackdown on the opposition movement after the disputed June presidential elections.

The crackdown killed more than 80 demonstrators. More than 100 opposition figures and supporters have been put on a mass trial that has led to a dozen death sentences so far.