Hamedan, Sept 29, IRNA -- A court in this western city has sentenced two political leaders to jail--one to 30 months and the other to six months--and 74 lashes each on charges of insults and instigating public opinion by heaping scorn on judicial officials.

The court sentenced Hossein Mojahed, the head of the Islamic Iran Participation Front in Hamedan, to jail for 24 months in the central city of Kerman after finding him guilty of "inciting public contempt for judicial officials" as well as a further six months in jail and 74 lashes for hurling insults on the opponents of a jailed journalist, Hashem Aghajari.

The same court also handed a sentence of six months imprisonment in the southern city of Bushehr and 74 lashes to Mojtaba Heydari, head of the Islamic Revolution Mujahedin Organization (IRMO) in Hamedan, after finding him guilty of "instigating public opinion by stirring contempt against judicial officials."

The two political leaders' convictions are related to their defense of jailed journalist Hashem Aghajari who is in prison in Hamedan on charges of insulting the clergy.

Aghajari, who is a member of the IRMO, was summoned to court early last month after he called for religious restructuring in the Shia-dominated Iran.

The court said both Mojahed and Heydari had insulted protestors to Aghajari's speech in Hamedan and had records of repeated offenses.

Speaking at a function to commemorate a prominent Iranian intellectual, late Ali Shariati, in Hamedan, Aghajari had criticized the Islamic principle of emulation (Taqlid) from religious leaders.

His remarks triggered an outrage among many who called on the judiciary to take action against the journalist who is also a war veteran and a university lecturer.