Watchdog

MOSCOW -- A Russian court has sentenced an activist to three years in prison under a new law introduced last year.

A court in Moscow found Ildar Dadin guilty on December 7 of "repetitive violation of the regulations on public events," and sentenced him the same day.

Amnesty International called the sentence a "shocking and cynical attack on freedom of expression."

Dadin became the first Russian citizen jailed for participating in more than two unsanctioned public events in 180 consecutive days. Investigators say he took part in four unsanctioned protests in 2014.

Dadin pleaded not guilty and said the case against him was a "shameful persecution based on an unconstitutional law."

Three other Russian activists, including 75-year-old Vladimir Ionov, have been charged with a similar crime.

Russian lawmakers introduced the legislation in 2014. Rights activists called it a tool to crack down on dissent.

More than 135 Iranian film directors have written a letter urging the country's judiciary to acquit a filmmaker who was sentenced in October to six years in jail and 223 lashes.

Kayvan Karimi, a 30-year-old Iranian Kurd, was convicted by a Tehran revolutionary court of "insulting the sacred" for his film Writing On The City -- a documentary about political slogans written on the walls of buildings in Tehran.

He remains free until an appeal hearing on December 23, but the punishment could be carried out if he loses that appeal.

Speaking of their "shock and disbelief," 137 filmmakers who signed the letter urged the sentence to be rescinded by "applying justice in the appeals court where misunderstandings can be settled."

In Iran’s revolutionary courts, the trials are not public, there are no juries, and a single judge issues the ruling -- often within minutes.

Based on reporting by AFP and AP