ANKARA (Reuters) – President Tayyip Erdogan’s spokesman said on Thursday Turkey strongly condemned a demand from U.S. prosecutors to sentence Turkish banker Hakan Atilla, convicted of helping Iran evade U.S. sanctions, to about 20 years in prison.

“The Hakan Atilla case is a legal scandal. We strongly condemn and reject this decision, it is a grave injustice,” spokesman Ibrahim Kalin told a news conference when asked about the Halkbank executive who was found guilty by a U.S. jury in January.