By Yaghoub Fazeli

DUBAI -- An Iranian student has been sentenced to six years in prison and 74 lashes for taking part in Iran’s January protests after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) admitted to shooting down a Ukrainian passenger plane.

Iranians took to the streets in early 2020 to protest the regime after it admitted to shooting down a Ukrainian airliner, killing all 176 people, having denied responsibility for several days.

Mostafa Hashemizadeh, an engineering student at the University of Tehran, tweeted on Friday that he has been sentenced to five years in prison for “colluding against national security,” in addition to a year in prison and 74 lashes for “disturbing public order.”

Amirmohammad Sharifi, another student at the same university, had said a few days ago that he had been sentenced to three months in prison for taking part in the January protests.

Students in Tehran kick-started the protests by gathering outside their university campuses and chanting against the IRGC.

Last week, five people in the northern city of Amol were sentenced to a total of 30 months in prison for protesting against the IRGC in January. -- Al Arabiya English