Page 12 - IRANRptNov19

2.6 ​Iranian president’s brother starts prison sentence for bribery
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s brother Hossein Fereydoun has started serving a five-year prison sentence for committing bribery. He entered Tehran’s notorious Evin prison on October 16, his lawyer told Iranian media outlets​.
Fereydoun, a former senior advisor to Rouhani and former diplomat, was convicted on charges of receiving zero-interest bank loans from the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) and influencing the appointment of a bank director who was dismissed in 2014 for receiving an enormous salary.
IRNA reported the Iranian Judiciary’s deputy chief and spokesman, Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejei, as saying that the initial prison sentence was seven years but it was reduced to five after an appeal. Under Iranian law, Fereydoun is expected to serve at least 50% of the prison time.
Fereydoun was also ordered to pay a fine of IRR310bn (€2.4mn at the free market rate) as part of the bribery settlement.
On October 16, RFE/RL reported Fereydoun as​ ​claiming his case was based on an "illegal" wiretap​.
He was originally​ a​ rrested in July 2017​ on financial corruption charges. Fereydoun achieved growing influence behind the scenes of the Rouhani administration from 2013, when he was appointed as a principal advisor and part-time Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA, or “nuclear deal”) negotiator.
The arrest, sentencing and imprisonment of the former official is seen by critics as politically motivated. They point to competing factions within the power structure of the Islamic Republic. There are the pragmatic centrists under Rouhani and, for instance, the hardliners associated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which sees the president and his supporters as too susceptible to Western influence.
The president’s office has remained generally silent on the issue. Opposing the procedures of the country’s allegedly independent judiciary is perhaps not a good look in this particular instance.
2.7 ​India reportedly expects US will soon green-light restarting imports of Iranian oil
India’s External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishanker has said he expects the US to tolerate New Delhi purchasing oil from Iran again in the not too distant future, according to Indian newspaper ​The Tribune.​ Jaishanker remarks were reportedly made at a think-tank event in Washington organised by the US India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF). However, the report did not mention any particular reason as to why the minister anticipated that the US might soon give such a nod.
India’s top diplomat was cited as saying that keeping good relations with both
12​ IRAN Country Report​ November 2019 www.intellinews.com