Iranian state-run media reports say the brother of President Hassan Rouhani of Iran was sentenced to five years in prison on corruption charges.
“Hossein Fereidoun was sentenced to five years in prison,” Judiciary Spokesman Gholam Hossein Esmayeeli told reporters in Tehran on October 15, according to Fars News Agency (FNA).
The verdict was reportedly issued after several closed-door court sessions.
Asked if Fereidoun has any other open case in the Judiciary, Esmayeeli said, “His other case is still under study at the prosecutor's office and has not been sent to the judge yet.”
He did not give further details of Hossein Fereidoun's other case and accusations.
Fereidoun was arrested in July 2017 and quickly released on bail following long-running corruption allegations, with the judiciary saying at the time that he was the subject of “multiple investigations.”
BBC reported that Fereidoun had been released after two days after he had paid a 500 billion rials (US$15.3 million) bail.
People and the MPs had reportedly demanded that Fereidoun be put on trial, accusing him of financial-corruption charges, according to FNA.
Iran's new Judiciary Chief Ebrahim Rayeesi has reportedly started serious fight against corruption since being appointed in March 2019. In May this year authorities arrested Hossein Fereidoun again and put him on trial in multiple cases.
