APPEAL SENTENCES
(The following dispatch from a special correspondent appeared in the March 16 issue of the Paris daily Le Monde. The translation is by World Outlook. ]
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TEHERAN, March 15 -- Mr. Khalil Maleki, Iranian Socialist leader and theoretician, has just been condemned by a Teheran military court to three years in a prison farm. Two others accused with him, Reza Shaian and Alidjan Shansi, were condemned by the same court to eighteen months, while a third, Mir Hossein Sarshar, was given twelve months. The four defendants filed an appeal.
The prosecutor accused the defendants, particularly Mr. Maleki of having collaborated with the Communists from 1930 to 1940 and since then with the National Front. Mr. Maleki replied that such an accusation was illegal in view of the number of years that had elapsed and that in any case, even at the time of his adherence to the Tudeh party, he had organized a Socialist wing before resigning to form a genuine party of the left.
Mr. Maleki added that his collaboration with the National Front of Dr. Mossadegh did not constitute a crime, since neither the Front nor the League of Socialists had ever been made illegal. Moreover, his organization was not antimonarchical and had never engaged in underground activities.
The representatives of the French press, including the representative of Le Monde, were barred from attending the trial. On the other hand, the local press published substantial reports of the arguments, although with some delay.
IN