The Special Economic Court sentenced three major buyers of coins and currency to death
Despite legal criticism of the formation of the "Special Court to Combat Economic Corruption", the spokesperson for the Judiciary of the Islamic Republic announced that the court had issued death sentences to three people accused of disrupting the economic system.
Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei told IRNA news agency on Monday, October 29, that Hamid Bagheri Darmani, Vahid Mazloumin (nicknamed Sultan Sekeh), and Mohammad Esmaeil Ghasemi (defendant in the Vahid Mazloumin case) have been sentenced to death by a special court.
According to him, these individuals have been sentenced to death as corruptors on earth. Their sentences can be appealed to the Supreme Court.
Mr. Ejei also announced the sentencing of 32 other defendants in the case of disrupting the economic system to prison terms ranging from one to 20 years and whipping. Five of the defendants were sentenced to 20 years in prison. In addition to these individuals, 15 others have also been tried on charges of disrupting the mobile phone sales market, but their sentences have not yet been issued.
Legal Ambiguities of Economic Death Sentences
Issuing death sentences and heavy prison sentences, while in the case of Vahid Mazloumin and Mohammad Esmaeil Ghasemi related to coins, according to legal and economic experts, buying and storing coins in bulk is not considered a crime according to the law.
Vahid Mazloumin is accused of purchasing and storing thousands of coins, equivalent to two tons, from the market.
Apart from the fact that buying and keeping coins was not a crime, another point of the case is that the defendant purchased some of the coins from the Central Bank.
Another point of the case is that the defendants are being tried in the newly formed special court for "fighting economic corruption," which does not meet the conditions for a fair and just trial; including the fact that, except for the death sentences, all other initial sentences of this court are final and cannot be appealed. Death sentences can only be appealed once through the Supreme Court.
Special courts to combat economic corruption were established in August of this year, upon the proposal of the head of the judiciary and the approval of Ayatollah Khamenei, following a sharp increase in the exchange rate and coinage in the Iranian market and the publication of news of the misuse of imported government currency.
At the request of the head of the judiciary and with the approval of Ayatollah Khamenei, this court issues sentences quickly and executes them without the possibility of appeal.
The heavy sentences for these defendants come at a time when Valiullah Seif, the former governor of the Central Bank, who was accused of mismanagement and wrong decisions in managing the foreign exchange and coin market, was only dismissed from his post, and Ahmad Araqchi, the deputy foreign exchange officer of the Central Bank, who had been arrested, was released on bail.
Judicial and security crackdowns on currency and coin dealers began this spring, following a sharp increase in the dollar and coin rates. The government and the judiciary accuse dealers and some buyers of hoarding dollars and coins from the market and creating a psychological climate for price increases.
Source: Voice of America
