TEHRAN -- The Islamic Republic of Iran's Supreme Court Friday quashed the death sentence imposed by the Hamedan trial court on academic Hashem Aghajari, it was announced here Friday evening.

Ayatollah Seyed Mohammad Sajjadi, an associate justice in bench 27 of the Supreme Court, told IRNA that the justices of the bench took several weeks to deliberate on the case and reached the conclusion that the verdict was contrary to the law and thereby ordered it set aside and the case remanded to the trial court to undergo further hearing, he added.

Aghajari's case was tried in a Revolutionary Court in the western city of Hamedan which issued a death sentence at the end of his trial. Based on the Supreme Court decision, the court will now retry the case in order to arrive at a new verdict on Aghajari, Ayatollah Sajjadi added.

Aghajari was a history professor in Tarbiat Moddarress (Teacher Training) University here when he was indicted for questioning the clerics' authority. His sentence triggered two weeks of mass protests in Tehran and other cities in November by several groups of students.