Court Sentences Two to Death Over Economic Crimes
TEHRAN (Dispatches) – An Iranian special court set up in a drive against economic crime has sentenced two convicts to death as the country faces renewed U.S. sanctions and a public outcry against profiteering and corruption.
The court was set up in August after Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei called for "swift and just” legal action to confront an "economic war” by foreign enemies.
Judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, quoted by the judiciary’s news website Mizan, said the court had handed down death sentences on two defendants after convicting them of "spreading corruption on earth”, a capital offence under Iran’s Islamic laws.
In September, the courts handed down three death sentences on similar charges.
Ejei said on Sunday that 11 more defendants had received jail terms of up to 10 years for "economic corruption”, and a judge was sentenced to 10 years in prison and 75 lashes for taking bribes.
An appeals court also upheld the 10-year prison sentence of a former Foreign Ministry official convicted of spying, he added.
The Fars news agency quoted Ejei as saying that the court upheld Kamal Amirbeig’s sentence and fined him $200,000.
Iranian officials have accused the United States and the occupying regime of Israel, as well as Saudi Arabia and foreign-based terrorist groups, of fomenting unrest and waging an economic war to destabilize Iran.
Ejei said 96 people had been arrested for charges linked to illegal trading in hard currencies or gold, Mizan reported.
Last Monday, the United States restored sanctions targeting Iran’s oil, banking and transportation sectors and threatened more action, steps the Islamic Republic called economic warfare and vowed to defy.
In August, Washington reimposed a first round of sanctions after pulling out of a 2015 deal between world powers and Tehran under which sanctions on Iran were lifted in return for curbs on its nuclear program.
The court was set up in August after Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei called for "swift and just” legal action to confront an "economic war” by foreign enemies.
Judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, quoted by the judiciary’s news website Mizan, said the court had handed down death sentences on two defendants after convicting them of "spreading corruption on earth”, a capital offence under Iran’s Islamic laws.
In September, the courts handed down three death sentences on similar charges.
Ejei said on Sunday that 11 more defendants had received jail terms of up to 10 years for "economic corruption”, and a judge was sentenced to 10 years in prison and 75 lashes for taking bribes.
An appeals court also upheld the 10-year prison sentence of a former Foreign Ministry official convicted of spying, he added.
The Fars news agency quoted Ejei as saying that the court upheld Kamal Amirbeig’s sentence and fined him $200,000.
Iranian officials have accused the United States and the occupying regime of Israel, as well as Saudi Arabia and foreign-based terrorist groups, of fomenting unrest and waging an economic war to destabilize Iran.
Ejei said 96 people had been arrested for charges linked to illegal trading in hard currencies or gold, Mizan reported.
Last Monday, the United States restored sanctions targeting Iran’s oil, banking and transportation sectors and threatened more action, steps the Islamic Republic called economic warfare and vowed to defy.
In August, Washington reimposed a first round of sanctions after pulling out of a 2015 deal between world powers and Tehran under which sanctions on Iran were lifted in return for curbs on its nuclear program.