Helmut Hofer (born 1942) is a German businessman arrested and imprisoned in Iran in September 1997, convicted of having had sexual relations with a Muslim Iranian woman, Vahideh Ghessemi.[1][2] He was sentenced to 99 lashes followed by death. The sentence was overturned by the Supreme Court in July 1998, but reinstated by the court of first hearing in October.
Hofer's case was again referred to the court of first hearing for a retrial in February 1999, and he was freed on bail two months later. He was rearrested in August 1999 and accused of having links to foreign elements, of which he was later acquitted. In October 1999 he was fined the equivalent of US$23,000 as a substitute for the 99 lashes. He was also charged with insulting a prison guard, for which he was fined the equivalent of a further US$6,600 in January 2000, before he was released and permitted to leave the country.
An other man called ‘Helmut Hofer’ is a german mathematician : see his biography here.