Iran commutes billionaire Babak Zanjani’s death sentence to 20-year jail term
Clemency approved by country’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.An Iranian billionaire tycoon on death row for almost eight years had his sentence commuted to 20 years of jail.
Babak Zanjani, 48, was convicted and sentenced to death in 2016 on a number of charges, including embezzling funds from the oil ministry to evade US sanctions on Iran.
The Iranian judiciary said a clemency request was approved by the judiciary chief and the country’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say on such cases.
The amnesty to Zanjani has been granted after he agreed to cooperate with the judiciary to locate the assets abroad in recent years during his time in prison and all the money was returned to the government, said Asghar Jahangir, spokesperson of the judiciary, according to Iran International.
The decision to commute Zanjani’s sentence suggests the Iran government’s attempts to seek revenue following years of US sanctions on the country.
Zanjani, who was one of Iran’s richest businessmen, was arrested in 2013 by then-president Hassan Rouhani on accusations he withheld billions in oil revenue through his companies.
He was said to be worth around $13.5bn (£9.5bn) and controlled a network of more than 60 companies, ranging from cosmetics, hospitality, to oil and banking.
He was accused of withholding $2.7bn (£2.2bn) of government money and was found guilty of “corruption on earth”, the most serious offence under the country’s criminal code.
By his own account, Zanjani for years arranged billions of dollars of oil deals through a network of companies stretching from Turkey to Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates. He amassed a fortune of $10bn – along with debts of a similar scale, the tycoon once told an Iranian magazine.
One of Iran’s high-profile business tycoons faced international sanctions for his role in helping the Iranian government circumvent sections to sell oil abroad. These include sanctions from the European Union in December 2012 and from the United States in April 2013.
In 2014, Iran executed billionaire businessman, Mahafarid Amir Khosravi after he was convicted for a $2.6bn state bank scam.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments