TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency is reporting that President Hassan Rouhani’s brother has begun serving a five-year prison sentence on corruption charges.
Tasnim said Wednesday that authorities had transferred Hossein Fereidoun to Tehran’s Evin prison.
Earlier in October, Iran’s judiciary said an appeals court lowered Fereidoun’s sentence to five years from seven on bribery charges.
The charges date back to 2016, and were brought by hard-liners who dominate the country’s judiciary.
Rouhani, a relative moderate within Iran’s political system, changed his surname decades ago.
Fereidoun had played a role as part of the team that negotiated Iran’s 2015 nuclear agreement with world powers.
Iran has in the past jailed allies of former presidents for similar charges.
Photo: FILE– In this Jan. 17, 2014 file photo, Hossein Fereidoun, left, accompanies his brother President Hassan Rouhani as they arrive at a conference, in Tehran, Iran. Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2019, that President Hassan Rouhani’s brother has begun serving a five-year prison sentence on corruption charges. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File)
