TEHRAN -- Siamak Pourzand, a journalist and writer, was sentenced to eight years in jail for actions against security through monarchist and counter-revolutionary links, the Persian daily ********Iran****** reported Saturday.

Pourzand, 70, had admitted the charges and confessed having had direct and indirect links with monarchists abroad, threatening national security and collaborating with the SAVAK, the ousted Shah's political police.

According to the daily, the court took the journalist's age and confessions into account when ruling on the sentence.

Pourzand, who recently worked for opposition radios based in the United States, was arrested in December.