An appeal court in Tehran has revised the initial sentence against Iranian-Scholar Kian Tajbakhsh and reduced the jail term from 12 to five years, Fars news agency reported on Wednesday.
Defence lawyer Houshang Azhari confirmed the sentence reduction. Tajbakhsh was convicted and sentenced last October to 12 years in prison for his involvement in political unrest following the June 12 presidential election won by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
He was arrested in Tehran during a July demonstration against alleged election fraud, and later charged by the revolutionary court with joining opposition groups trying to topple the Islamic system through a so-called soft revolution.
It was not the first jail term for Tajbakhsh, a sociologist and former urban planning consultant with George Soros’ Open Society Institute.
In 2007 he was arrested on charges of cooperating with US think tanks to topple the Islamic system.
He was released after four months on bail amounting over 100,000 dollars and reportedly returned to the United States.
