Babak Zanjani’s death sentence for sanctions evasion upheld in Iran

Babak Zanjani, an Iranian businessman who was sentenced to death in March this year on charges of defrauding the Iranian government and circumventing sanctions on Iran’s oil industry (see previous blog), has had his sentence upheld by Iran’s Supreme Court. Mr Zanjani admitted using businesses in Turkey, Malaysia, and the UAE to sell oil on behalf of the Iranian government since 2010. He was accused of embezzling $2.8bn of profit from those sales; he stated that the money was not paid because of sanctions preventing him from doing so.

Mr Zanjani had his EU listing annulled by the European court in 2014, but was re-listed shortly thereafter (see previous blog). He was then de-listed earlier this year when the JCPOA nuclear deal was implemented.