Special Clergy Court Sentences Mohammad Reza Nakounam to Five Years in Prison, Flogging, and Disrobing

The Special Clergy Court has rejected reports regarding the involvement of religious authorities in the case of Mohammad Reza Nakounam, announcing that this cleric has been sentenced to five years in prison, flogging, and disrobing from clerical status. According to Fars News Agency, the Special Clergy Court reported on Saturday, September 16, that this ruling has become final. The announcement stated that the charges against Mr. Nakounam will not be disclosed due to the necessity of preserving the dignity of the clergy and his reputation. The court also did not mention the number of lashes Mr. Nakounam has been sentenced to receive. The Special Clergy Court claimed that during the proceedings, the religious authorities had 'no role whatsoever.' The court emphasized that 'anyone who has been defamed and slandered by websites and supporters' of Mr. Nakounam 'has the right to file a complaint and pursue legal action.' This announcement comes at a time when the website Kalameh and several of Nakounam's students had previously stated that he was arrested due to his criticism of the remarks made by Nasser Makarem Shirazi, a Shiite religious authority. Following Mr. Makarem Shirazi's opposition to high-speed internet, Mr. Nakounam stated: 'A Muslim is someone who is civilized and religious, not someone who is foolish.' Mr. Nakounam was arrested in 2014, and reports about his poor physical condition have emerged in recent years. Meanwhile, the website HRANA reported that Mr. Nakounam, after two weeks of hospitalization in a Tehran hospital, was returned to Qom's coastal prison by security forces on Tuesday, August 14. Mr. Nakounam's students and some websites refer to him as a religious authority. He has written dozens of books on religious topics, and some official media have promoted these books and referred to him as Ayatollah in recent years. In 2015, during a leave from prison, he criticized 'governmental enjoining good and forbidding wrong' in an interview with the Law newspaper, stating: 'A society that has violence cannot have enjoining good. The one who throws acid is the most violent person... An acid thrower is certainly one of the examples of a corrupt person on earth. He cannot be an enforcer of good and forbidding wrong in society because he is violent and lacks compassion.' Although Mr. Nakounam did not directly refer to the issue of acid attacks on women in Isfahan in his remarks, some websites have interpreted the mention of this issue alongside the phrase 'enjoining good and forbidding wrong' as linking these two topics by this cleric.