Sadegh Zibakalam (pictured), one of Iran’s top professors, has been threatened with a one-year prison sentence after an Instagram post on religion and poverty.

Zibakalam, a professor of political science at Tehran University, noted that the cost of hiring 300,000 new clergymen is more than the budget of each of Iran’s three poorest provinces. He was condemned for “spreading lies for the purpose of agitating the public”.

The professor is prominent for his outspoken analysis on TV, radio, and the press in Iran. He has criticized the regime for its suppression of mass protests after the disputed 2009 Presidential election, questioned the efficacy of Iran’s nuclear program, and claimed favoritism for the elite and privileged over the impoverished. In 2014, he even recognized Israel as a state.

He has largely escaped being shut down, like many other Iranian analysts who dare to challenge regime policies and actions. However, in March 2018 he was given an 18-month sentence after he told London’s The Guardian and Germany’s Deutsche Welle that the majority of Iranians do not support the regime system.

That sentence has yet to be implemented.