Mehdi Hashemi, one of the sons of former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, has been released after more than seven years in prison, media reported on Wednesday.
Hasheminow aged 53, was arrested on August 9, 2015 after being convicted of “fraud and embezzlement” and issues related to “national security”.
Mehdi Hashemi had denounced a “politically motivated” process.
Lawyer Vahid Abolmaali, quoted by the Isna news agency, said his client was “released in the last hours of Tuesday” from Tehran’s Evin Prison, where he was serving a 10-year sentence.
Mehdi’s name Hashemi it was mentioned in the mid-2000s in cases involving the Norwegian public group Statoil and the French group Total, suspected of paying bribes to gain easier access to Iranian hydrocarbon reserves.
Hachémi was then a senior official in the Iranian oil sector.
In 2009, Mehdi Hashemi founded the “voting protection committee”, drawing the ire of conservatives.
Mehdi’s father, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, president from 1989 to 1997, was a moderate who favored improving ties with the West.
On January 9, Faezeh, daughter of the former Iranian president, was sentenced to five years in prison for “conspiracy against the security of the country”.
Source: DN
