Iranian Magazine Chief Sentenced For Insults

A court has sentenced the director of a monthly magazine to six months in prison and 35 lashes for insulting Iran’s spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Abbas Maroufi also was banned for two years from practicing journalism, the official Islamic Republic News Agency and several newspapers reported Saturday.

The publication license of his monthly magazine, Gardoon, was canceled, effectively shutting it down. The reports did not elaborate on how Maroufi insulted Khamenei but said that he also was convicted of printing “fabrications.”

Gardoon was popular among intellectuals, especially those critical of government policy.