Shahram Jazayeri Arrested for 'Illegal Exit from Iran'

The head of the West Azerbaijan judiciary announced the identification and arrest of Shahram Jazayeri, an Iranian businessman, during his 'illegal exit from Iran'. Tavakkol Heydari stated in an interview with the official news agency of the judiciary (Mizan) that on Saturday of this week, customs officers arrested two individuals in a 'suspicious' container that was attempting to leave the country. According to Heydari, both detainees initially introduced themselves as Afghan nationals, and 'subsequent inspections revealed that one of them is Shahram Jazayeri'. Ali Masoumi, the director of Bazargan customs, also told ISNA that 'a transit shipment of lentils was en route to Turkey when our colleagues stopped the shipment just 20 meters before leaving the country during the export clearance process and conducted a physical inspection'. He added that 'the broken seal or lead wire around the container caught the attention of customs officers', and the second individual (Shahram Jazayeri) 'provided no information about himself' after being arrested, only mentioning his lack of identification documents. Masoumi also reported that the driver and the container carrying Shahram Jazayeri were 'under observation', adding: 'The driver was likely unaware of this issue, and these two individuals managed to board the cargo area by breaking the lead wire around the container'. The Iranian customs also reported the date of Jazayeri's arrest as Saturday night, stating he was found in a 'Turkish trailer carrying lentils', which had been loaded in 'Turkmenistan and was supposed to exit Iran'. This comes as Jazayeri's defense attorney claimed that her client was banned from leaving the country due to a '450 million tomans tax debt' and denied reports that he attempted to escape by hiding inside a truck. Laya Bagheri stated in an interview with Tasnim that 'my client went to the border to visit a friend, but because he had a tax debt and was banned from leaving the country, he did not have a passport and was arrested by the authorities'. Although the head of the West Azerbaijan judiciary claimed that Jazayeri 'offered a bribe of one billion tomans to the officers at the time of his arrest, which was rejected by the conscientious officers', his defense attorney denied this claim. Ms. Bagheri also rejected the statements of the Bazargan customs director regarding a photo of Shahram Jazayeri circulating on social media after his arrest, asserting that 'this photo is from two or three years ago'. According to the head of the West Azerbaijan judiciary, Jazayeri 'was banned from leaving the country due to significant tax debts and claims during interrogation that he intended to leave the country to visit a family member residing in Canada'. Heydari added that he 'is currently in custody on charges of offering a bribe and illegal exit from the country, and the charges have been communicated to him'. As reported, 'this suspect apparently also has an open case in the Mashhad judiciary, which has been requested to issue a summons for further legal actions if necessary'. Shahram Jazayeri, an Iranian businessman and economic activist, was arrested in 2002 at the age of 29 during the largest and most controversial corruption case in Iran since the 1979 revolution. Initially sentenced to 27 years in prison, he was ultimately sentenced to 11 years of imprisonment, payment of 48 million dollars in compensation, and a 97 million dollar fine, along with a 10-year prohibition from receiving bank loans. In March 2007, the special economic crimes court announced that Shahram Jazayeri had managed to escape during a transfer to disclose his assets. Shortly after, security officials announced they had successfully captured him in a village in Oman and returned him to Iran. Shahram Jazayeri was finally released in August 2016 and resumed his economic activities.