Iran court jails Rouhani’s brother for corruption

TEHRAN

An Iranian court on Tuesday sentenced a brother of President Hassan Rouhani to five years in prison on corruption charges, according to the semi-official Fars news agency.

"Hossein Fereidoun was sentenced to 5 years in prison," Judiciary spokesman Gholam Hossein Esmayeeli said in a press conference in Tehran.

He said Fereidoun was found guilty of taking bribes.

The spokesman said Fereidoun might face charges in another case.

He, however, did not elaborate about the details of the other case and accusations.

Fereidoun is a diplomat and trusted adviser to Rouhani, who has changed his name at the beginning of his political career.

Fereidoun was arrested in 2017 and quickly released on bail following long-running corruption allegations, with the judiciary saying at the time that he was the subject of "multiple investigations".

*Bassel Barakat contributed to this report from Ankara