Iran Court Gives Ahmadinejad Press Adviser One Year in Jail, Mehr Says

An Iranian court has sentenced the press adviser of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to one year in prison and banned him from engaging in media activities for three years, the state-run Mehr news agency reported.

Ali Akbar Javanfekr made comments against the Islamic dress code for women, Mehr said, citing the court’s ruling. He published in August an article deemed to be “in violation of Islamic principles” while overseeing the management of the state-run daily newspaper Iran, according to the Mehr report, which didn’t provide details.

Javanfekr wrote in a publication that the practice of women wearing a head-to-toe black cloth, known as a chador in Iran, wasn’t originally an Iranian practice and had been imported, the Associated Press reported. Javanfekr has 20 days to appeal the sentence, AP said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ladane Nasseri in Dubai at lnasseri@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew J. Barden at barden@bloomberg.net