Attorney General: Babak Zanjani Will Definitely Be Executed

Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, the Attorney General of Iran, states that Babak Zanjani's sentence is death and he will "definitely" be executed. As one of the highest judicial officials in the Islamic Republic, he also mentioned an "oath to God" that "bad hijab" in Iran cannot be resolved through judicial measures. On Wednesday (July 18), Mr. Montazeri said in a gathering of Basij members in Mashhad that judges in cases such as the Thamen al-Hojaj credit institution and Babak Zanjani are seeking the return of "public assets." He added that otherwise, "know that his sentence {Babak Zanjani} is death and he will definitely be executed." These statements come after Rasoul Kouhpayehzadeh, Zanjani's lawyer, had previously stated that the return of assets by Zanjani would be effective in reducing the death sentence issued against him. According to him, in Zanjani's ruling, which has been confirmed by the Supreme Court, it is stipulated that in the case of asset return, the benefits of Article 114 of the Islamic Penal Code can be utilized. This article refers to clemency. Babak Zanjani is accused of receiving "one million barrels of oil" from the Iranian oil company and having paid "160 million euros" out of the 2.7 billion euros he was obligated to pay, spending the remainder on personal matters. Zanjani's debt to the Ministry of Oil was previously announced to be around 8 trillion tomans, but officials from the Ministry of Oil believe that the damages resulting from this debt must also be paid. Meanwhile, the Minister of Oil announced on Saturday that Zanjani's debt, including interest, has reached approximately 3.5 billion dollars, equivalent to about 15 trillion tomans. According to Ministry of Oil officials, the ownership of Zanjani's assets within the country, valued at less than about 2 trillion tomans {one-fifth of the debt}, has been transferred to the Ministry of Oil. Montazeri also stated that the case formed for the Thamen al-Hojaj financial institution consists of "120 volumes." The Thamen al-Hojaj financial institution began its activities in 2001 under the title "Thamen al-Hojaj Cooperative of Graduates." According to ISNA news agency, this institution went bankrupt due to investments in the housing market and the recession in this market. Previously, Ahmad Tavakoli, a member of the ninth parliament, had stated that most of the loan recipients from the bankrupt financial institution "Thamen al-Hojaj" were experienced judges and children of prominent clerics and political figures. He said that "the CEO of the Thamen al-Hojaj financial institution has a lot of influence and even obtained the arrest warrant for Mr. Bahmani, the former head of the Central Bank." In the latest news from this case, Mohsen Eftekhari, the head of the Criminal Courts of Tehran Province, stated that one of the three defendants in the Thamen al-Hojaj financial and credit institution case has fled. According to judicial officials, this case has about 370 plaintiffs and involves "about 12 trillion tomans of financial misconduct." Montazeri also made a rare statement regarding the ineffectiveness of judicial measures on hijab issues, swearing by God that judicial action will not yield results in cultural and hijab matters. He stated, "I swear to God that in cultural and hijab matters, judicial action will not work." His remarks come at a time when police and judicial officials have recently spoken of taking "uncompromising" action against individuals who publicly remove their hijabs in the streets. This judicial official considered "peaceful and calm ways" effective for enforcing mandatory hijab and added that any plan aimed at effectively combating bad hijab would receive support. He noted that "many of the bad hijab individuals come from families where bad hijab is common and do not see it as wrong." Montazeri added that "some of the bad hijab individuals have no belief in Islam, are secular, or belong to other religions, but a small number do this intentionally to mock the values of religion and Islamic laws." The Attorney General of Iran also continued that if the police were to "arrest all bad hijab individuals, widespread propaganda against the regime and Islam would be created." He emphasized that "harsh measures against bad hijab will definitely not work." Iranian officials have been trying for years, at great expense through various plans, to counter the changing lifestyle of the Iranian people, which includes disregard for the mandatory hijab law.