Shahram Jazayeri

Shahram Jazayeri
Born Shahram Jazayeri Arab
1972 (age 45–46)
Ahwaz, Iran
Citizenship Iranian
Escaped February 2007
Escape end March 2007
Date apprehended
 2001–2014
Imprisoned at Evin Prison

Shahram Jazayeri (Persian: شهرام جزایری‎) is Iranian entrepreneur and businessman who was involved in a high-profile corruption case.

Jazayeri was taken into custody in 2001, at the age of 24, for a long-list of criminal activities involving bribery, illegal exports, forgery and massive embezzlement of state money and assets.[1] At this time, as a student in Tehran, his personal wealth was approximately $264,000. The cases of Jazayeri raised questions about the Iranian government's commitment to deal seriously with corruption. Jazayeri was convicted in 2002 in a major corruption case involving 50 defendants, many of them sons of prominent clerics. In September 2004, his 27-year prison sentence was partially overturned, and he was occasionally released from prison on leave.[2]

Jazayeri paid huge amounts of money to the Iranian members of parliament. He confessed to paying about $15,600,000 to Hadi Khamenei, the Iran Supreme leader’s reformist brother, and about $5,800,000 to Mehdi Karroubi, former Majlis speaker without requesting anything in return.[3] He was reportedly arrested after he sent a check worth $35,000,000 to the office of Supreme Leader of Iran.

On 21 February 2007, Iran's Special Judicial Complex for economic affairs declared that Shahram Jazayeri has escaped, while being transferred to a court-assigned financial expert committee. There was suspicion of governmental involvement in his escape as it was assumed unlikely to escape from such prisons without assistance.[4] Hossein Shariatmadari of Kayhan newspaper wrote an article supporting the theory that those clerics were trying to cover-up the case.[3] Following the escape controversy, the head of Judiciary, Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, fired a number of those responsible in the case, including the head of Evin prison and a few judges, and ordered an opening of a case in the military court for the judges.[5] On March 19, 2007 Iran's head of intelligence agency confirmed that Jazayeri was arrested in an unnamed location in the Arabian Peninsula. His hiding location is said to be a remote village in Oman and handed over to Iranian authorities.[6]

In 2007, an Iranian newspaper reported that, unlike ordinary prisoners in Iran, Jazayeri had access to a laptop and two mobile phones and is living in luxury in prison and continued his business works overseas.[7]

In February 2007, Jazayeri was sentenced to US$61,861,200 and 14 years of prison. In 2008 he was seen several times in Dubai.[8]

After 11 years, on October 11, 2014, Jazayeri was released from prison at the age of 42.[9]

Notes

  1. ↑ Iran Daily - National - 02/24/07 Archived 2007-09-11 at the Wayback Machine.
  2. ↑ John Pike. "RFE/RL Iran Report".
  3. 1 2 "اخبار اقتصادی - ایران اکونومیست".
  4. ↑ Special Judicial Complex declares Jazayeri's escape - Irna Archived 2007-10-01 at the Wayback Machine.
  5. ↑ بركناری‌های گسترده در دستگاه قضايي به‌خاطر فرار شهرام Archived 2007-09-28 at the Wayback Machine.
  6. ↑ "دستگیری شهرام جزایری در یک روستای کشور عمان / جزایری تحویل مقامات ایرانی شده است". خبرگزاری مهر - اخبار ایران و جهان - Mehr News Agency. 18 March 2007.
  7. ↑ ::Noandish::ستون "جهت اطلاع" روزنامه جمهوري اسلامي 5شنبه Archived 2007-03-04 at the Wayback Machine.
  8. ↑ ":: خبرگزاری حیات - 14 سال حبس برای شهرام جزایری عرب ::". Archived from the original on 8 March 2007.
  9. ↑ fa:شهرام جزایری Farsi Wikipedia
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