Iranian President’s brother, Hassan Rouhani jailed for taking bribe

Iranian President, Hassan Rouhani’s brother has begun a five-year sentence after he was convicted of corruption, BBC News reports.

Hossein Fereydoun, who served as an aide to the president, was first arrested in July 2017.

However, he was put on trial in February this year on allegations of financial violations.

Hossein was convicted of “receiving bribes” in May 2019 and sentenced to seven years.

An appeal court decision later reduced the jail term, but ordered him to return any property that he had acquired illicitly and fined him an equivalent of $9m in Iranian currency.

Hossein’s lawyer told local reporters that his client entered Tehran’s Evin prison on Wednesday.

“This morning, Mr Fereydoun together with myself were present at the prosecutor’s office,” Hossein Sartipi was quoted as saying.

“After legal procedures were completed, he was taken to Evin prison and was admitted to the prison,” he added.

Fereydoun acted as a key adviser and gatekeeper to the president before his arrest.

The brothers do not share the same surname because Rouhani changed his to a word meaning ‘spiritual’ or ‘cleric’ decades ago after joining a seminary.

Rouhani had promised to curb corruption in the 2013 and 2017 presidential election campaigns.