Dariush Babaian, one of the long-time cinema producers

According to Movie Mag, citing Cinemarozan, during the entire time that Babak Zanjani was being tried as an economic defendant and was ultimately sentenced to death, none of the filmmakers who benefited from working with him said a word in his support. But now, Dariush Babaian, who collaborated with Zanjani through the release of the film "Naghsh Negar," has made strange claims in support of Zanjani in an interview with Mojtaba Ardeshiri on Farhikhtegan! Dariush Babaian said: "I am defending "Babak Zanjani" right now. I will say what I have to say about "Babak Zanjani," that he was a government soldier. He served Iran a lot during the sanctions period. He brought in the budget and sold government products to them and received a percentage of the commission. By the way, why is "Babak Zanjani" here now? Because he wants to go and bring the money. But he is afraid and terrified of this mess they have made about "you are good" and "you are bad." He is afraid to come out because he did positive things. The producer of “Four Esfahanis in Baghdad” continued: Wasn’t “Babak Zanjani’s” entrepreneurship lacking? I am not defending him without reason, but by working, Babak started the economy of a series of holding companies, did banking, who imported the airplane that is currently flying in and out of Iran? These are the same budgets from which he earned, bought, and brought into Iran the heavy income from his specific activities. Babaiyan added: “I don’t want to say that he has no money abroad or that he did not profit from his activities, no, but he did many services. I don’t want to talk politics, but if “Babak Zanjani” was part of a gang whose name should have been mentioned constantly, during the period when the head of the judiciary and… changed, this person’s name should have been mentioned more, but they know that he worked during his own period. Right now, when we are under sanctions, many politicians would like to have "Babak Zanjani"s who could do their job, but the sanctions of that period continued to benefit Iran because domestic production was launched, and for this reason, today we need fewer "Babak Zanjani". Referring to his record of working with Zanjani, the producer of "Thieves of Jordan Street" stated: "When this man entered the cinema, I had a meeting with him. He was not someone who came to the cinema for profit. When he opened his office and made a few films with Hooman Seydi, Ali Atshani, and Ebrahim Sheibani, all the greats of cinema and those who had a claim to production and direction would bring him scripts; whether he was a Hezbollah member, a revolutionary, or a non-revolutionary one." I once saw in his office that about 50 scripts had arrived from most people and everyone was rushing to work with him. Dariush Babayan claimed: If Zanjani had stayed in cinema, he would have been one of the good activists of this cinema, but when the government changes, one group comes and leaves the other group behind so that people like them can go under water. There is no defense, but we should praise those who have worked and appreciate their work and positivity. Now there are many in the government who are working and have not taken any positive action, but in some places people feel sorry for him because I saw these services with my own eyes and, for example, I was physically present in "Nagsheg Negar" and saw how much effort he put into the film. Babak started airplanes and hotels that the people of Iran are now using these facilities. I wish we had smart people like him now, who both knew economics, carried out economic activities, and developed places for the benefit of their country.