Iran's hardline judiciary dropped all charges against dissident academic Hashem Aghajari that could lead to the death penalty, finally backing down in an affair that has sparked widespread protests.
"The charges of insulting the prophet and denying religious principles, both of which are considered apostasy and are punishable by death, were not upheld," Aghajari's lawyer, Saleh Nikbakht, told AFP.
He said that Aghajari was now facing a lesser charge of "insulting religious sanctities", which carries a maximum sentence of one to five years in jail.
Speaking after new charges were read out ahead of the second re-trial of the Tehran University history professor -- due to begin on July 3 -- the lawyer said he was now confident Aghajari would "not be sentenced to death".
Aghajari, who lost a leg in the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war, was convicted of blasphemy by a judge in the western city of Hamedan in November 2002 after he called for a reformation in Iran's state Shiite Muslim religion.
He had said in a speech to students there that Muslims were not "monkeys" and "should not blindly follow" religious leaders.
The speech was taken by the court as an attack on the very core of Iran's 25-year-old Islamic regime, the position of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as a supreme leader who cannot be questioned and the Shiite concept of emulation.
The verdict sparked major student protests in Iran as well as complaints from the government of embattled reformist President Mohammad Khatami. Iran also came under some international pressure over the verdict.
The protests prompted the intervention of Khamenei, and last year the Supreme Court ordered a retrial, sending the case back to the same judge in Hamedan.
He in turn upheld his original ruling that Aghajari deserved to die, leaving the final decision again in the hands of the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court then ordered a total re-examination of the case, but sent it instead to a court in the capital Tehran.
According to Iranian criminal law, any death sentence has to be given Supreme Court scrutiny regardless of a defendant's refusal to appeal -- a defiant position that Aghajari had taken.
But Nikbakht said Aghajari had attended Monday's hearing. According to the student news agency ISNA, he pleaded not guilty to the lesser charges by stating: "I am a religious Shiite Muslim, and I do not accept any of the material in the new accusations."
The agency also quoted Judge Mohammad Eslami as saying that "in one week's time the result of the case will be determined."
Aghajari had also been sentenced to eight years in jail. The term was later commuted to four years before being scrapped on April 14, but he is still being held in Tehran's Evin prison.
Nikbakht said the Tehran court remanded Aghajari in custody on Monday, citing "problems for the case, such as a threat to his life".
"Psychologically, he was in a very, very good condition but was a little upset when the court decided to keep him in detention," the lawyer said.
"Compared to the first year of detention, he has lost a little weight. Perhaps he is on a diet."