Javanfekr, who is to appeal the sentence, also prompted a separate two-month ban on a reformist newspaper, Etemad, after it ran an interview with him criticising Ahmadinejad’s hardline opponents, according to another Mehr report.

The legal developments come ahead of March 2012 legislative elections that are heightening political tensions between Ahmadinejad and his aides on one side, and ultra-conservatives in Iran’s judiciary and parliament on the other.

As well as his role as presidential adviser, Javanfekr heads Iran’s state-run news agency IRNA and newspaper IRAN.