Iran Scholar Fights For Life

(CBS)  A university professor sentenced to death for insulting Islam appealed the verdict on the last day before it became final, state-run Tehran radio reported Monday.

The sentence had drawn widespread protests from parliament, university students and the public.

"Hashem Aghajari's lawyer lodged an appeal Monday morning on the last day of a 20-day period," the radio quoted judiciary official Zekrollah Ahmadi as saying.

Aghajari had previously refused to appeal his sentence, challenging the judiciary to carry it out.

Aghajari, a history professor at Tarbiat-e-Modarres, or Teachers Training University in Tehran, was sentenced to death last month by a court in the western city of Hamedan after being convicted of insulting Islam and questioning the hard-line clergy's rule.

Aghajari's case highlights the power struggle between reformists supporting President Mohammad Khatami's program of social and political freedoms and hard-liners who control unelected institutions, including the police and judiciary.

The sentence had prompted weeks of protests by students who criticized the judiciary. Some of the rallies ended violently, with hard-line vigilantes and university students trading fists.

Aghajari, a one-time student radical, was arrested after publishing his view that reverent Muslims need not follow religious leaders blindly.

Student activism has played a crucial role in modern Iran.

Young intellectuals were instrumental in the movement to overthrow the U.S.-backed shah in 1979 and in the takeover of the American Embassy later that year.

In 1999, a round of student demonstrations against the hard-line establishment ended violently.