Prominent Islamic theologian Mohammad Mojtahed Shabestari has been summoned and questioned by the Revolutionary Prosecutor's Office of Tehran, RFE/RL's Radio Farda reports.
According to Shabestari's official website, he was questioned on May 2 about a lecture he delivered at Isfahan University of Technology in 2009.
Paris-based religious scholar Mohammad Javad Akbarin told Radio Farda that in that lecture Shabestari had said although the Prophet Muhammad was perfect in his mission, which was bringing people to God, he had shortcomings as a human being. The fundamentalists who could not tolerate what he said filed a case against him at the time, Akbarin said.
Akbarin said the authorities have reopened the case after two years because they need to use it as propaganda. They want to demonstrate that a theologian who has uttered such words is against the government.
He added that summoning a 75-year-old man to court for his scientific, theological, and philosophical ideas is highly regrettable.
Shabestari is also philosopher and a former professor at Tehran University.
Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
