"Habibolah Latifi was found guilty of waging war against God (moharebeh) for cooperating with PJAK," Saleh Nikbakht told AFP. The Party of Free Life of Kurdistan or PJAK is an Iranian-Kurdish rebel group.

Latifi, a 26-year-old student, was detained in November 2007 and charged with taking part in an assault on the car of the prosecutor in Sanandaj, the capital of Kordestan, and attacking a police station the same year.

According to the lawyer, Latifi admitted being a PJAK supporter but denied committing acts of violence.

Latifi told the court that he was not in Sanandaj when the attacks took place, his lawyer added.

Nikbakht said that he will appeal for a further review of the case.

Early in February, the US Treasury designated PJAK a "terrorist" group and announced the freezing of the group's assets outside Iran.

The militant group has carried out many armed operations in recent years.

Hundreds of militants from the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has waged a bloody campaign for self-rule in southeast Turkey, and its sister group in Iran, PJAK, are based in the mountains of northern Iraq.