Mehdi Hashemi Rafsanjani

Mehdi Hashemi Rafsanjani
Born Mehdi Hashemi Bahramani
(1969-09-20) 20 September 1969
Tehran, Iran
Nationality Iranian
Alma mater University of Tehran
Sharif University of Technology
Wolfson College, Oxford
Parent(s) Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani
Effat Marashi

Mehdi Hashemi (born 20 September 1969) is a Iranian businessman and the fourth child of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, former President of Iran.

Early life and education

Rafsanjani was born on 20 September 1969 in Tehran. He attended elementary, junior and high school at the Nikan High School, graduating in 1987. He was accepted at University of Tehran where he majored in telecommunication, obtaining his bachelor's degree in 1992. He earned a master's degree from Sharif University of Technology in the energy engineering field, and worked on a PhD in the energy engineering field at Islamic Azad University.

In October 2010, he began studying for a PhD at Wolfson College, Oxford in oriental studies with a focus on the Iranian constitution.[1][2][3]

Trial

Mehdi Hashemi Rafsanjani
Known for Statoil corruption case
Criminal charge Multiple
Unknown "security offences and financial crimes"[4]
Criminal penalty 10 years in prison[5]
Conviction(s) Corruption crimes[5]
Capture status
 In Prison[5]
Date apprehended
 11 August 2015 (2015-08-11)[5]
Imprisoned at Evin Prison

In 2007 authorities in France arrested the CEO and other officers of the giant oil company Total S.A. on charges that Total had bribed Iranian officials. From 1997 to 2003, Total paid out €60,000,000 ($80,000,000) for a favorable contract in the PSEEZ off-shore natural gas field. Much of this money was allegedly paid into bank accounts controlled by Mehdi Rafsanjani, then head of the state-owned company Gaz Iran.[6]

Mehdi denied this allegation, and threatened the newspapers which reported it with prosecution.[7]

In the 2009 Iran poll protests trial, a defendant (Hamzeh Karami) accused Mehdi of spending assets of the Iranian Fuel Conservation Organization to finance his father's 2005 campaign.[8] Mehdi questioned the credibility of the confession pointing out that Karami "stood trial on Tuesday without a defense attorney after having spent over 70 days in solitary",[8] and accused president Ahmadinejad of embezzling a far larger amount "that went missing from the Tehran governor’s office in 2005."[9] The trial has been widely condemned in both Iran and elsewhere as a "show trial" employing coerced confessions.[10]

Rafsanjani returned to Iran from exile to answer charges of inciting unrest after a disputed election in 2009, fuelling speculation that Rafsanjani's influence in Tehran may once again be growing.[11] In September 2012, he was arrested on a whole raft of charges and released in December 2012.[12][13]

References

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Wednesday, August 26, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.