Iran gives ex-vice president 5-year prison term

Iran's supreme court has sentenced a former vice president to five years in prison and ordered him to pay a 10 billion rial ($300,000) fine, the country's official news agency said.

The IRNA report late Wednesday did not specify what Mohammad Reza Rahimi, a top aide to ex-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was convicted of but said the verdict was binding. It also said the court ordered Rahimi to pay compensation equivalent to some $800,000.

Rahimi, who served as the head of an anti-corruption agency and received the medal of honor from Ahmadinejad, is the first Iranian vice president to see jail time.

A local court had initially sentenced him to 15 years prison, but the supreme court reduced the term to five years and three months, IRNA said. Rahimi has long maintained his innocence