Four journalists have been sentenced to between five and ten years in prison for endangering national security, one of their lawyers, Mahmoud Alizadeh Tabatabaie, was cited as telling Iranian state broadcaster IRIB on Tuesday.
Four men and one woman were named and four jail sentences were handed down, IRIB quoted the lawyer as saying. The four sentenced journalists have worked for newspapers, including pro-reform Farhikhtegan daily.
The verdicts can be appealed, according to state media.
Davoud Assadi was given a 10-year sentence while Afarine Chitsaz, the woman journalist, received a five-year term.
Ehsan Mazandarani was ordered to seven years imprisonment and Ehsan Safarzayi, five.
The fate of the fifth suspect, Issa Saharkhiz was unclear. He served three years in prison but was released in 2013 after being convicted for insulting Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and for publishing anti-government "propaganda".
In the months before his latest arrest, Saharkhiz allegedly criticised Khamenei and other senior figures, his lawyer said.
Saharkhiz was head of media at the culture ministry under reformist president Mohammad Khatami, who was in office from 1997 to 2005.
