TEHRAN -- Branch 21 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court issued a ruling on Saturday banning the Freedom Movement of Iran (FMI) and all its affiliated associations and declared their activities illegal. It also sentenced 33 of its members to prison terms and fined eight others.

The court sentenced 21 FMI executive officials to prison terms ranging from nine months to 10 years, while 12 were given sentences from four months to two years coupled with fines of 10 million to 30 million rials (1,250 to 3,750 dollars).

Also, eight FMI activists were given fines from 10 million to 50.5 million rials (between 1,250 and 6,250 dollars). Eleven FMI members were acquitted.

The court announced that some 21 executive members of the FMI had been stripped of their political rights as stipulated in Article 62 of Islamic Penal Code for ten years. They have also been banned from membership in all political parties and associations during the period.

However, the court announced that the cases of other FMI members are still open.

The court found the FMI guilty of committing several national security offenses, including establishing and running an illegal association with the intent of toppling the Islamic system, and seeking to unite dissident individuals and opposition groups who had served long prison terms for committing security offenses against Iran.

The FMI was also found guilty of forming a coalition of "religious nationalists" with the view to toppling the Islamic system, participating in conferences and meetings of opposition groups outside the country, and establishing links with foreign diplomats and political figures to solicit support for their efforts against the system.

The FMI has been convicted of spreading propaganda against the Islamic system by preparing and distributing flyers, giving statements, speeches and interviews, and attempting to spread lies and incite public opinion. Several FMI members had also been convicted of possessing arms and ammunition, drugs and classified government documents. They were also convicted of trying to create a sense of disillusionment among Iranian youth and insulting the founder of the Islamic Republic, the late Imam Khomeini.

"What can be concluded from the documented data obtained in the case as well as the confessions of defendants clearly confirms the concerns of the late founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Khomeini, about the FMI. The findings of the case are concrete proof that 'the so-called Freedom Movement of Iran (FMI) is an avid advocate of Iran's dependence on the U.S. and they have spared no effort to attain this objective. Therefore, considering that they pretend to be pious in order to mislead the youth, their harm will be far greater than that of the Mojahedin Khalq Organization (MKO),'" the court said.