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Iran jails Kurdish students for 'propaganda': report

TEHRAN, Aug 25, 2008 (AFP) - Iran has sentenced two Kurdish students to two years in prison each for propaganda against the system and participation in an illegal gathering, press reports said on Monday.

Sabah Nasri and Hedayat Ghazali, Kurdish students in Tehran universities, have been in jail for the past 14 months, Kargozaran newspaper said, without specifying when the trial had taken place.

Under Iranian law, time already served in prison is deducted from the sentence.

"I received my clients' verdict on Sunday at a revolutionary court," their lawyer Saleh Nikbakht was quoting as saying by Etemad newspaper.

Nikbakht said he would appeal the sentence.

Iranian universities are a hotbed of student activism and reformist students have complained of increasing political pressure on university authorities under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Earlier this month Iran released three Amir Kabir university students who had been sentenced to up to 30 months in jail, after over a year in prison on charges that included allegedly insulting Islam.

Their arrest drew wide condemnation and their colleagues staged regular protests demanding their release -- often leading to new arrests.