Iran jails student activist for eight years: Media

Iran has sentenced a leading student activist to more than eight years in jail on security charges and insulting the Islamic republic leadership,opposition websites reported .

Iran has sentenced a leading student activist to more than eight years in jail on security charges and insulting the Islamic republic leadership,opposition websites reported today.

Majid Tavakoli was arrested on December 7 during anti-government protests on campuses on the annual Student Day.

State news agency IRNA said Tavakoli had sought to leave Tehrans Amir Kabir university disguised as a woman, unleashing a cyber campaign by male opposition supporters wearing Islamic headscarves in solidarity and calling for his release.

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He has been sentenced to five years in prison for conspiring and gathering against the establishment and one year for propaganda against the system, Amir Kabir News Letter,an opposition student website,said.

It added that Tavakoli was also handed a two-year jail term for insulting the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and another six months for insulting President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The opposition has rejected Ahmadinejads June re-election as fraudulent and has staged protests at every opportunity.

Tavakoli is a leading activist who spent 15 months in jail along with two fellow students after being arrested in 2007 on charges of insulting religion and the countrys leadership in student publications.