A lawmaker from Tehran Mohsen Armin said on Tuesday that the judge issued a biased verdict against him in the case lodged by an MP from Kuhdasht, IRNA reported from Tehran.

He told reporters that the judge sentenced him to six months in prison and one year deprivation of social rights for alleged insult to his colleague.

He denied the charge and said that the parliament's audio-visual networks proved his innocence.

"I have not insulted the MP from Kuhdasht and there is no evidence to prove such an allegation," he said.

"On the contrary, the plaintiff himself repeatedly insulted me and some other MPs in the worst term and there are evidences to the effect in the audio-visual networks of the parliament," Armin said.

Armin said that the judge sentenced him to six months in prison for the alleged insult and one-year deprivation of social rights for not appearing in the court.

"It is clear what is behind the one year deprivation of social rights," he said, a reference to the political motive for such a sentence on the eve of the parliamentary elections slated for February 20.

He said that he will lodge a complaint against the judge for his biased verdict.

Press Court jurors vote against daily's license holder

Tehran, Oct 28, IRNA -- The jurors of a press court here voted against Mostafa Kawakebian, the license holder of the Tehran-based Mardomsalari daily on Monday in one of the two charges brought up against him by the prosecutor general.

The vote was announced at a session held on Monday at bench 76 of Tehran's Criminal Court, presided by Judge Mohammad-Reza Saremi to survey the charges brought up against Kawakebian and the license holder of a sports daily '90 Days'.

Kawakebian was charged of "propagation against the system through instigating the public opinion" and "publication of false news aimed at ruining the prestige of the Islamic Republic of Iran."

The press jurors found Kawakebian guilty in case of publishing the dissident cleric, Seyed Hossein Khomeini's comments and news, but suggested to the judge to observe leniency toward him.

Regarding the prosecutor general's accusation related to the news on late Iranian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi's death, the press jurors acquitted Kawakebian of the crime and found him not guilty.

The press jurors also did not find the license holder of the "90 Days" sports daily, Kamran Ahmadpour guilty of the accusation brought up against him by the prosecutor general.