Hassan Rouhani’s Brother Sentenced to Five Years in Prison
The Judiciary Spokesman announced on Tuesday, September 30, that Hossein Feridon, the brother of Iran’s President, has been sentenced to 5 years in prison for receiving bribes.
According to IRNA news agency, Gholam-Hossein Ismaili said at a press conference that “Hossein Feridon has been sentenced to 5 years in prison, a financial penalty, and forfeiture of 31 billion tomans.”
He explained that “the appellate court issued the final ruling regarding Hossein Feridon, and the seven-year sentence was reduced to five years in prison.”
This case took on political dimensions from the start, and while conservative lawmakers in parliament have consistently called for the trial of Hassan Rouhani’s brother, some reformist figures had suggested that an impartial committee investigate both his file and the allegations against Mohammad-Javad and Fadel Larijani, the two brothers of the former head of the judiciary.
According to the Farsi News Agency, Hossein Feridon’s charges in the case currently being pursued by the judiciary are related to bribery, money laundering, and moving illicit funds.
Farsi writes, citing “an informed source,” that “he conducted effective negotiations in exchange for receiving bribes to assign responsibilities in banks and other influential economic sectors to specific individuals, and these individuals paid him substantial sums in return.”
According to the news agency, “preliminary estimates of the amounts related to bribery and money laundering reach tens of billions of tomans,” and the case includes names such as Rasoul Daniallzadeh, one of the bank debtors, and several former bank heads including Sediqeh, former CEO of Refah Bank.
Rasoul Daniallzadeh was arrested on December 15, 2016, due to over 2 trillion tomans in debt to banks.
Judicial authorities announced Hossein Feridon’s arrest on July 16, 2017, on “financial charges,” and a day later it was reported that he was released on a 50 billion toman bail. To date, Feridon’s charges have been reviewed in four court sessions.
Mohammad Baqer Nobakht, the government spokesman, said after Hossein Feridon’s arrest: “This issue should be the same for the head of the judiciary or the legislature, and the independent judiciary will deal with others the same way it dealt with the President’s brother.”
Gholam-Hossein Ismaili, the Judiciary Spokesman, also said at his Tuesday press conference regarding the “bribery” case of Hassan Rouhani’s brother that “in this case, a verdict of acquittal has been issued for another defendant, and regarding a woman whose initial sentence was two-thirds suspended by the lower court, in the appellate court the remaining one-third of her sentence has also been suspended.”
Source: Voice of America
