A pro-reform Iranian journalist jailed in 2000 after implicating top officials in the 1998 assassinations of opposition members and intellectuals was set free, according to press reports in Tehran on Saturday.
Emadeddin Baqi said following his release he wanted to go back to being a university professor because the "current conditions of the press" would prevent him from working as a journalist.
Baqi was sentenced to five and a half years in prison in July 2000, but following an appeal, was handed a commuted three-year sentence, according to AFP.
He was convicted by the press court of harming national security and "propagating false news" after complaints from the intelligence ministry, state television and former secret service agents.
In May earlier that year Baqi's Fath newspaper was suspended in a crackdown on the reformist press by the hard-line judiciary. (Albawaba.com)
© 2003 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
