TEHRAN 26TH Dec. (IPS) Iranian students leaders warned Sunday the authorities of the Islamic Republic they would stage nation-wide demonstrations against the regime if the death sentences pronounced against Mr. Akbar Mohammadi and Ahmad Batebi are uphold.

Informed sources in Tehran confirmed Sunday that Islamic courts have condemned to death Mr. Akbar Mohammadi, the younger brother of Mr. Manouchehr Mohammadi, the leader of the Nationalist Association of Iranian Students (NAIS) who, for his part, is serving a 13 years jail term on charges of sedition against the Islamic Republic and collaboration with Iranian opposition groups abroad.

According to the indictment, the younger Mohammadi is accused of using Cocktail Molotov during the last July's student's demonstrations, allegations that are denied by his friends and family.

Detained in one of the Islamic Republic Intelligence Ministry's most notorious prison known as Tohid, Mr. Mohammadi's physical and mental conditions are reported to be "critical" as a result of tortures he has suffered.

The fate of Mr. Batebi, the student who was pictured with the blood-stained T-shirt of a friend hit by conservatives-controlled thugs during street clashes is less certain.

Looking like being a mixture of Che Guevara and Jesus Christ, the photograph of Mr. Batebi with long hairs controlled with a head band was published by thousands of newspapers and magazine around the word, demonstrating the violence with which the Islamic authorities of Iran had crushed the last July's students demonstrations for freedom and democracy.

The demonstrations, the worst the Islamic Republic had to face since its inception in 1979, were triggered after Law Enforcement Forces and Islamic pressures groups controlled by the conservatives savagely attacked students who were protesting peacefully in their dormitories the closure of a popular reformist daily and were quickly turned against the regime and it's senior clerical leaders, including ayatollah Ali Khameneh'i.

Some 1,500 people were arrested in connection with the disturbances. About500 have been cleared while most of the rest are still under investigation.

There was no official confirmation of the sentences, but lawyers and jurists said since both Mohammadi and Batebi are accused of "fighting God", they are likely to be executed according to Islamic laws.

According to Mr. Heshmatollah Tabarzadi, the leader of the Office of Strengthening Unity (OSU), besides Mr. Mohammadi and Batebi, there are two other students also on the regime's death row.

He was not able to identify them.

Interviewed by the IPS on the phone, Mr. Tabarzadi warned that if the authorities upholds the sentences on the students condemned to death, they would have to bear the consequences, as the students would stage nation-wide protest.

Charged with insulting the leader, Mr. Tabarzadi was imprisoned in the same Tohid prison where he describes the situation of political prisoners as "very bad".

The verdicts against Mr. Mohammadi and Batebi has placed both the government of President Khatami and the conservatives in a difficult situation, for, if applied, it would set the stage for large-scale anti-regime demonstrations and further international pressures on the Islamic Republic. ENDS DEATH SENTENCE 261299