TEHRAN, July 31 (AFP) - Iranian dissident academic Hashem Aghajari was freed on bail Saturday after two years behind bars faced with the threat of execution for questioning the Islamic republic's Shiite Muslim clergy.
There was a carnival atmosphere outside his Tehran home, with family members, supporters and neighbours cheering and in tears as the disabled leftist academic returned from north Tehran's notorious Evin prison.
"I hope that freedom, justice and human rights will be realised. I hope that all prisoners of conscience who have committed no crime will be released soon," the tired-looking history professor told reporters, defying an order to stay silent.
"I am so happy to be among people again. I am happy that the truth has prevailed. I pray for the victory of the Iranian nation," he said, barely able to hold back his tears.
Outside his home, his family and neighbours were handing out sweets and fruit juice in celebration of his freedom.
Iran's hardline judiciary allowed Aghajari out on a hefty bail of 970 million rials (112,000 dollars) pending his appeal of a five-year jail sentence.
Aghajari, who lost a leg fighting in the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war, drew the wrath of powerful hardliners in 2002 when he said in a speech that Muslims were not "monkeys" and "should not blindly follow" religious leaders.
The speech was initially seen as blasphemy and apostasy, challenging some of the fundamental dogma of the Islamic republic -- notably the status of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as a supreme leader who is not to be questioned as well as the Shiite concept of emulation.
A hardline judge in the western city of Hamedan, where Aghajari delivered his call for a "reformation" of Shiite Islam, sentenced him to hang.
But the verdict sparked widespread student protests, and Khamenei eventually intervened and ordered a re-trial. But the same Hamedan court again defiantly sentenced him to death.
A second re-trial several weeks ago saw the judiciary drop charges that could lead to the death penalty, and Aghajari was instead convicted of "insulting religious sanctities", "propagating against the regime" and "spreading false information to disturb the public mind".
He was handed a five-year jail term, two years of which were suspended, as well as five years of "deprivation of social rights" to commence when he is released from jail.
"They want to bury me alive with this verdict. Five years in prison is like being dead for five years," said Aghajari, who is 47.
"Doing this to me, a teacher whose job is speaking and writing, is like killing me. I hope the supreme court will quash this verdict."
Aghajari's lawyer Saleh Nikbakht told AFP that scores of friends and supporters of the professor -- whose health is ailing after his spell on death row and in solitary confinement -- had offered to pay the bail.
These would-be donors even included well-wishers in Iranian communities as far away as the United States.
But eventually, Nikbakht said, "a friend of Mr. Aghajari provided the deeds to his house. In total more than 160 people had expressed their willingness and readiness to give."
"It is a relief," said Aghajari's wife, Zahra Behnoudi. "People have been very kind to us. That shows people are reacting to the system by being kind to political prisoners, something that you would never have seen at begin of the revolution 25 years ago."
But she added that the ordeal, which is still not over, had taken a toll on their three daughters.
"They see as father who looks every bit religious and who follows religion. Just imagine the hurt and damage they suffered when they saw their father treated like this by people who are ruling the country in the name of Islam," she said.
"There will be a deep hatred in their hearts, when a young person should be filled with love."