Thamen al-Hojjaj Case: 15 Years in Prison for Main Defendant and Acquittal of Two Other Defendants

According to the initial ruling of the court reviewing the case of the financial and credit institution "Thamen al-Hojjaj", Abolfazl Mirali, the CEO of this institution, has been sentenced to 15 years in prison, while two other defendants in the case have been acquitted of their charges. Based on a ruling published on Thursday, September 8, signed by Mostafa Bagheri, the judge of the first branch of the criminal courts of Tehran province, Abolfazl Mirali has been sentenced to "15 years of imprisonment with consideration of the deduction of previous imprisonment time", and Robab Ebrahimi and Mehdi Ramazani, the second and third defendants, have been acquitted. The court has also made the issue of "returning property and refunding deposits" conditional on the submission of a new lawsuit. The judicial proceedings of this case have been newsworthy over the past two months, and finally, about ten days ago, the head of the Tehran judiciary announced without mentioning details that a "long-term imprisonment" had been issued for the first defendant in this case. Robab Ebrahimi, the second defendant in this case, is the wife of the CEO and one of the officials of this institution. For a long time, the third defendant was referred to only as "fugitive" without mentioning a name, and it was from the eleventh court session that his lawyer attended the court and announced that his client resides in Tehran; however, Iranian media have reported that Mehdi Ramazani is still not known to them. However, the ruling issued for the defendants in the "Thamen al-Hojjaj" case has surprised users on social media. The financial and credit institution "Thamen al-Hojjaj" began its activities in 2001 under the leadership of Abolfazl Mirali, the son-in-law of the former Friday prayer leader of Sabzevar. After the announcement of bankruptcy of this institution, which was attributed to investment in the housing market and the recession in this market, the victims of this financial institution held extensive protests, and finally, in July of this year, Iranian media reported that Abolfazl Mirali, who was free on bail, had been arrested. According to what is mentioned in the court ruling, the financial value of this case with 360 plaintiffs is estimated at 12 trillion tomans. The ruling issued for the three defendants in the "Thamen al-Hojjaj" case is subject to appeal within 20 days.