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MET COMMANDER JAILED FOR MISCONDUCT

ABOVE: Ali Dizaei was convicted of misconduct and perverting the course of justice

8th February 2010

A top Scotland Yard officer has been jailed for assaulting and falsely arresting a man in a petty row over money.

Commander Ali Dizaei, 47, was sentenced to four years by Mr Justice Simon at London's Southwark Crown Court.

A jury convicted him of misconduct in public office and perverting the course of justice at the end of a four-week trial.

They found he attacked young Iraqi businessman Waad al-Baghdadi before arresting and attempting to frame him.

The convictions spell the end of the Iranian officer's controversial 24-year career. Dizaei has been suspended on full pay since September 2008.

He emerged unscathed from a series of earlier inquiries, including a multimillion-pound undercover operation examining claims of corruption, fraud and dishonesty. But an attempt to frame a man who pestered him for payment over a website exposed him as a violent bully and liar who abused his position.

Dizaei will remain a senior police officer until the bureaucratic formal process of throwing him out of the force can be completed. The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), which investigated the original complaint, must pass its files to the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) for a decision. Dizaei will then be sacked for gross misconduct and could face losing all or part of his pension under further measures aimed at punishing corrupt officers.

Nick Hardwick, who leads the IPCC, branded Dizaei a "criminal in uniform" who threatened the reputation of the entire service.

The jury heard the two men met by chance in the Persian Yas restaurant, run by Dizaei's friend Sohrab Eshragi, in Hammersmith Road, west London, on July 18 2008. Mr al-Baghdadi, 24, approached Dizaei and asked for £600 he was owed for building a website showcasing his career, press interviews and speeches.

This angered Dizaei, who had just eaten a meal with his wife after attending a ceremony at New Scotland Yard for new recruits. The officer confronted the younger man in a nearby sidestreet where a scuffle took place and Mr al-Baghdadi was roughly arrested and handcuffed.