'Mentally unsound' Iranian blogger sentenced to death for insulting Prophet on Facebook

An Iranian criminal court has sentenced a blogger to death after declaring him guilty of insulting the Prophet Mohammed on Facebook.

A source who spoke to the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, said that Soheil Arabi had eight different Facebook pages under different names and he used these pages to post insulting material against the Prophet, reported The Independent.

The 30-year-old blogger was arrested along with his wife in November last year and had claimed that he had written the "material without thinking and in poor psychological condition."

Branch 75 of Tehran's Criminal Court, found Arabi guilty of insulting the Prophet on August 30.

The report said that Article 262 of the Islamic Penal Code stipulates a death sentence for insulting the Prophet. However, article 264 of the Penal Code says that if a suspect claims to have said the insulting words in anger, in quoting someone, or by mistake, his death sentence will be converted to 74 lashes.

However, the judges have issued the death sentence despite the law and the explanations provided, the report said.