The Death Sentence for Babak Zanjani Has Been Communicated to His Lawyer

Babak Zanjani's defense attorney announced on Tuesday, April 5, that the court has communicated the death sentence of his client to him. Rasoul Kouhpayezadeh stated in an interview with ILNA news agency that he attended the 15th branch of the Revolutionary Court on Tuesday morning to receive the verdict, which is 318 pages long, and began taking notes on its contents. The lawyer pointed out that the essence of the ruling is the same as previously announced by the spokesperson of the judiciary, under which all three defendants in the case were sentenced to death for corruption on earth. The ruling communicated to us currently indicates a verdict of corruption on earth and death for Babak Zanjani. Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, the spokesperson for the Iranian judiciary, announced on March 6 that the verdict for Babak Zanjani and two other defendants tried in the oil case was issued in the first instance, and the court identified these three defendants as corrupt on earth. Mr. Ejei added that the defendants were sentenced to return the property related to the complaint of the National Iranian Oil Company and to a monetary penalty equivalent to one-fourth of the money laundering. Babak Zanjani's lawyer also mentioned that the verdicts for the other two defendants in this case have not yet been communicated to their lawyers. Rasoul Kouhpayezadeh added that the process of communicating the verdict for the first defendant must first be completed, and only then will the verdicts for the other two defendants be communicated to their lawyers. The names of the other two defendants sentenced to death in this case have not yet been announced in Iranian media. Meanwhile, Mr. Kouhpayezadeh told ISNA news agency that after the complete communication of the verdict, they have 20 days to submit their appeal to the court. Iranian judicial and governmental officials claim that Mr. Zanjani has not returned billions of dollars from oil sales to the treasury. Babak Zanjani and his defense lawyers argue that he wants to pay the money, but international sanctions against Iran have caused billions of dollars from oil sales to be blocked in foreign banks, and Mr. Zanjani has not been able to free and transfer them to Iran. Previously, Mostafa Pourmohammadi, Iran's Minister of Justice, stated on March 9, 2016, that 'Babak Zanjani's cooperation will influence his sentence.'