Head of the Ilam provincial branch of the judiciary said that the sentences were imposed on the defendants for involvement in the social disturbances that erupted in Ilam on June 9 (when President Khatami's second landslide victory was announced) which led to the arrest of 39 people on the strength of warrants issued by the Ilam Revolutionary Court.

Mohammad Barani, however, added that currently only one of the arrested figures is still in prison; all the others have been freed on bail. The warrants, he said, were issued against the defendants for personal involvement in the ruckus that erupted after Khatami's resounding victory and, in a few cases, against the chanting of slogans against state authorities.

The Ilam Revolutionary Court was convened only to hear the complaints of nine of the accused parties while the cases of the remaining 30 were referred to the public courts that have yet to conduct hearings on the complaints.

Judge Barani said that all the eight accused were tried and found guilty by the Revolutionary Court of Ilam, but all have appealed their cases before the appeals court.

The case of one accused has been referred to the Supreme Court, since there was disagreement on the proper court that is to try him, according to Ilam's top judge.

He also emphasized that no political or personal considerations were taken into account in the hearings conducted against the accused parties and that the verdicts were issued on the basis of the issues, the defenses presented and the confessions.

In a related development, on August 1 a revolutionary court in the northeastern city of Torbat-e Heidarieh imposed a jail sentence of three months to two reformist activists for their role in "un-Islamic" celebrations which followed President Mohammad Khatami's re-election June 8, it was reported.

"Javad Mohebi, a councilor, and Hassan Mortazavi were sentenced to 91 years in jail and 40 lashes of the whip each," Ahmad Mashhadi, official-in-charge of the reformist Khordad II election campaign headquarters in Torbat-e Heidarieh, told IRNA.

"Four others--Vahid Arab, Mojtaba Modarressizadeh, Majid Khorrami and Iman Morassaie--have been slapped with suspended cash fines," he added.

The judge who ruled in the case, Mas'oudi, told IRNA that a total of 39 people were arrested in after-election celebrations.

"Twenty-two of them have been given suspended jail sentences, eight sentenced to cash fines and four others to flogging and imprisonment," he said, adding that two were acquitted.

The judge's verdict, however, did not reveal the length of the jail terms nor the names of those sentenced.

The verdict was said to have been rendered a week before it was announced and that defendants could appeal within 20 days after the date they were informed.

President Khatami won 21,656,476 million out of the total 28,159,289 million votes cast, the judicial department said, adding the turnout had been around 67 percent, down from 83 percent in the 1997 election in which Khatami acquired 69 percent of the total turnout.

Khatami's re-election victory two months ago triggered jubilation in several cities of the country with residents distributing sweets and cheering slogans expressing support.