Iranian cleric jailed for selling clothes on streets

Ali Rajab

An Iranian court has sentenced a man to prison for one year and a fine of a million tomans for selling the uniforms of Shiite clerics on the streets.

The man, a cleric himself, took up a job of selling the uniforms of the mullahs on the streets, after being kicked out of work.

According to Hrana, an Iranian agency focusing on human rights news, the court sentenced the man on charges of publishing lies and defaming men of religion.

The list of charges leveled against the same man also included involvement in propaganda against the Iranian regime and humiliating the former head of the Iranian judiciary.

The man said he had been fired from Tehran University for expressing support for former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

He added that he worked as a street hawker for some time in protest against his sacking from work.

Iranian law bestows status and prestige on men of religion. The same law bars men of religion from doing other jobs.

A special court was established for men of religion in 1979 at instructions by Ruhollah Khomeini, the godfather of Iran’s Islamic Revolution.

The court is an independent body and does not act as part of Iran’s judicial system.

The Iranian constitution also gives special status to men of religion.

Men of religion are not required to perform the military service, which is mandatory for other members of the Iranian society. The constitution also exempts them from taxes.