Turkey dismisses banker's US conviction over Iran sanctions-dodging

A Turkish banker has been convicted by a US court of helping Iran to evade sanctions, The New Arab reports. But the Turkish foreign ministry has dismissed the verdict of Manhattan federal court as "unjust and unfortunate".

Mehmet Atilla, an executive at Turkey's majority state-owned Halkbank, was found guilty on Wednesday on five out of six counts against him, including bank fraud and conspiracy to violate US sanctions law. He was cleared of one count of money laundering.

The four-week trial was watched closely in Turkey, particularly after Atilla's former co-defendant, gold trader Reza Zarrab, agreed to cooperate with prosecutors in a plea deal.