Iran Commutes Oil Tycoon's Death Sentence

Facts

• Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has approved a request to commute oil billionaire Babak Zanjani's death sentence to 20 years of imprisonment, Iranian media reported on Tuesday.¹
• After his arrest in 2013, Zanjani was convicted and sentenced to death in 2016 over several charges, including embezzling $2.7B from the oil ministry so as to dodge US sanctions on Iran.²
• According to Iran's judiciary, Zanjani had the right to a pardon on the conditions that he returned the assets, compensated the damages, and expressed regret for his actions.³
• Zanjani has denied any wrongdoing throughout the trial, insisting that US sanctions had prevented a planned transfer of the missing funds to Iran's oil ministry.⁴
• Zanjani's attorney claims that his client — once considered the richest man in Iran with an alleged net worth of $13.5B — may be eligible for parole given that he has already served more than a decade.⁵
• While Zanjani has had his death sentence commuted, Iran has reportedly executed at least 834 people last year — the second-highest figure in two decades. More than half of those executions were over drug charges.⁶

Sources: ¹BBC News, ²Independent, ³Associated Press, ⁴Al Arabiya, ⁵Iran International and ⁶Al Jazeera.

Narratives

• Pro-Iran narrative, as provided by Iran Energy Press. It's easy to understand why Babak Zanjani had his death sentence overturned and commuted to a 20-year jail term, as he cooperated with authorities to locate and return assets from abroad. Since all property was returned, there's no need to carry out such a severe punishment.
• Anti-Iran narrative, as provided by Iranwire. There were no doubts that the Islamic Republic was corrupt before this happened, but this commutation further reasserts that the people of Iran are the only ones facing the ramifications of its draconian laws. While ordinary people are subject to the full rigor of the justice system, oligarchs are spared and privileged.

Predictions