Imprisoned 'economic basij' pleads case to Rouhani

Babak Zanjani, the businessman who became a household name for his extravagant lifestyle at a time when many Iranians were reeling from the impact of sanctions, wrote a letter to President Hassan Rouhani from prison, it has been confirmed.

Zanjani’s case captured the attention of the Iranian public for its unusual nature. The man who once claimed to be worth $14 billion and gave himself the moniker “the economic basij” was arrested in December 2013 for an unpaid debt of $2 billion to the Oil Ministry. Two years later, he maintains his innocence, and officials from the Rouhani administration and the judiciary are still unable to formally charge him, recoup the money owed or convince him to give up the names of others who worked with him in evading oil sanctions under the administration of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.