Iranian billionaire sentenced to death

An Iranian billionaire has been sentenced to death after being convicted of corruption, justice officials say.

Babak Zanjani, 41, was accused of pocketing more $2.7billion (£2bn) for oil sold on behalf of the country's oil ministry.

By his own admission, Zanjani arranged billions of dollars of oil deals through a network of companies stretching from Turkey to Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates, amassing a personal fortune of $10 million in the process.

He was arrested in December 2013 and has denied any wrongdoing in the case.

Following a long public trial, the Islamic court convicted Zanjani and two accomplices for "spreading corruption on earth", a capital offence and ordered them to repay the embezzled funds.

The defendants can appeal the ruling.

Zanjani had been blacklisted by the US and EU for helping Iran evade oil sanctions under former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad but was taken into custody when Hassan Rouhani took power. He had pledged to crackdown on high-level corruption.

Iran emerged from years of economic isolation in January when world powers led by the United States and the European Union lifted crippling sanctions against Tehran in return for curbs on Tehran's nuclear ambitions.