Babak Zanjani (photo), the multibillionaire who has been sitting in jail almost two years, has been told his trial will start October 3 before Judge Abol-Qassem Salavati, known as one of the country’s harshest judges and who is routinely assigned politically sensitive cases. It is assumed that date was set because Iranian law requires that any jailed person not put on trial within two years must be freed. The start of the trial October 3 doesn’t mean the trial will proceed speedily, however. Zanjani is accused of failing to pay the Iranian government 86 trillion rials ($2.5 billion) that he received selling oil on behalf of the Iranian government to get around sanctions. Zanjani has not denied owing the money to the government but has said he has been unable to pay it because the money was frozen in foreign accounts by banking sanctions in 2012. The Judiciary says the Zanjani file consists of 209 volumes each with about 200 pages. Zanjani’s attorney has asked for a delay saying he doesn’t have enough time to review the file before the trial starts.
