TEHRAN – A former consultant to Iran’s mission to the United Nations was sentenced to three months in prison on Friday for evading taxes by concealing his income and helping family and friends make money transfers that violated U.S. sanctions against Iran, Reuters reported.

Ahmad Sheikhzadeh, an Iran-born U.S. citizen, was defiant as he addressed the judge before he was sentenced, saying prosecutors had targeted him in order to pressure him to act as an informant from within the Iran mission. 

Speaking to reporters after the hearing, he called the prison sentence “very unfair.”

MH/PA