[JURIST] An Iranian appeals court Tuesday upheld the sentences [JURIST report] of three Iranian students on charges of insulting Islam. Majid Tavakoli, Ahmed Ghassaban, and Ehsan Mansouri were arrested last year for allegedly publishing anti-Islamic material in multiple newspapers. The three were sentenced to 22 to 30 months in prison. Supporters of the students had hoped they would be released on bail, but a court official said that they will serve the full terms before being released. AFP has more.

The students all attend Amirkabir University of Technology [university website] in Tehran and are leaders of Daftar-e Tahkim-e Vahdat (the Office for the Consolidation of Unity) [HRW backgrounder], the largest-known Iranian student reform group. Group officials and the three students maintain that the "insults" were made by conservatives to frame the group [AFP report, in French].