An Iranian dissident has been sentenced to read three books and re-write them word by word after calling the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei a despot and demanding a national protest to end this rule.

Abulfazl Ghadiani, 74, a founding member of the banned reformist Mujahedin of Islamic Revolution Organisation has already served several years behind bars for his fierce criticism of Iran’s Supreme Leader, accusing him of “betraying the Islamic Revolution’s ideals of freedom and justice through his thirst for power and dictatorial rule”.

The books that Mr Ghadiani has been ordered to read are The Story of Winter by Arab author Saeed Akeff, The Story of Sistan Province and How to Identify Your Enemy, both written by Ayatollah Khamenei.

The unusual sentence which also includes an extra three years of prison for Mr Ghadiani, came one day after Ayatollah Khamenei appointed hardliner cleric Ebrahim Raeesi as Iran’s new chief judge.

Mr Raeesi appointment has met with domestic and international protest for his past role in ordering the execution of hundreds of Iranian political prisoners without trial in the 1980s.

Amnesty has named the bloody purges as “crime against humanity” and called for those responsible to be brought to justice.