{"id":1330,"date":"2018-11-14T21:23:19","date_gmt":"2018-11-14T21:23:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/?p=1330"},"modified":"2018-11-14T21:23:19","modified_gmt":"2018-11-14T21:23:19","slug":"irans-execution-of-two-traders-convicted-in-irans-new-corruption-courts-is-unlawful","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/?p=1330","title":{"rendered":"Iran\u2019s Execution of Two Traders Convicted in Iran\u2019s New Corruption Courts Is Unlawful"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/iransos.com\/en\/photo\/2011\/v\/vahid-mazloumin%20.jpg\" width=\"600\" height=\"368\" \/><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Vahid Mazloumin and Mohammad Esmail Ghassem Both Hanged at Dawn Despite Denials of Due Process and the Right to a Fair Trial<\/p><\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">November 14, 2018\u2014The hanging today of two individuals who were convicted of economic crimes in Iran\u2019s new\u00a0corruption courts\u00a0is unlawful and inhumane, as these courts deny due process and do not allow for fair trials, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) said today.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><!--more--><\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li><strong>There should be an immediate moratorium on carrying out any sentences issued by these courts, especially the three other death sentences that have been issued so far by them, CHRI said.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>There should also be an immediate halt on the activities of these courts until their procedures fully allow for due process and fair trial standards, and all sentences issued thus far should be mandated for review, CHRI added.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cIran\u2019s hanging of people who have been convicted in courts without a fair trial is a blatant violation of law,\u201d said Hadi Ghaemi, CHRI executive director. \u201cThe international community must register its forceful condemnation of these kangaroo courts and the executions that are being carried out under their direction.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Vahid Mazloumin and Mohammad Esmail Ghassemi, two of the\u00a0five people sentenced to death\u00a0so far by the special economic corruption courts, we\u2019re\u00a0hanged at dawn\u00a0in Tehran on November 14, 2018.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Iranian Nobel Peace Laureate Shirin Ebadi\u00a0condemned the courts in an\u00a0interview with CHRI\u00a0on November 13, 2018, describing the quick prosecution and heavy sentences issued as \u201ca masquerade of justice.\u201d The prominent lawyer said, \u201cInstead of implementing justice, the state is pretending to be seeking justice, meaning that \u2026judicial procedures, bringing charges, the right to legal counsel \u2014 none of these things are clear in these cases.\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Ebadi also expressed concern about the short duration of the trials. \u201cFrom my experience, usually the appeal process takes more than two years. But if cases are closed in just a few weeks we have to believe the prosecutions are being deliberately expedited and in my opinion that is because they want to quiet down the people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The courts were set up by Iran\u2019s judiciary and approved by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in August 2018 to try individuals accused of economic corruption. They severely\u00a0violate the right to due process and to a fair trial\u00a0on many levels. Among other violations, they:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li>Do not allow adequate time for defense procedures or appeal reviews.<\/li>\n<li>Restrict the right to choose counsel to the short list of state-approved lawyers that are designated for \u201cnational security\u201d cases.<\/li>\n<li>Do not allow any appeal process except in cases involving the death penalty, and then appeals can only be made to the Supreme Court within 10 days.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Mazloumin, known as the \u201c(Gold) Coin King\u201d who was arrested on July 1, 2018, said in an\u00a0interview\u00a0with the Mizan News Agency published after he was hanged, \u201cI loved my job. Especially dealing coins. There\u2019s nothing mysterious about the market, if you ask me. It\u2019s just a perpetual supply and demand in society.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Mohammad Esmail Ghassemi, known as Mohammad Salem, began trading in the currency and gold market in 1993 and worked closely with Mazloumin. Asked in an\u00a0interview\u00a0with Mizan published on November 14 why Mazloumin was called the (Gold) Coin King, he said: \u201cWhen someone trades $30 million a day and has the ability to read the market, his name spreads everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The three other individuals\u00a0sentenced to death\u00a0so far by these courts are:\u00a0Dariush Ebrahimian Bilandi and Younes Bahaeddini\u00a0who were sentenced by the special court for economic crimes in Fars Province on November 6 for \u201corganized disruption of the country\u2019s banking and economic network\u201d (the two have appealed to the Supreme Court) and\u00a0Hamid Bagheri, who was sentenced on October 1 along with Mazloumin and Esmaili. Bagheri\u2019s death sentence has been transferred to another branch of the Supreme Court for review, his lawyer Mr. Ramezani\u00a0told\u00a0Mehr news agency on November 5.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">On October 21, Judiciary Spokesman Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Ejei\u00a0announced\u00a0that the Supreme Court had upheld the death sentences issued against Vahid Mazloomin and Mohammad Esmail Ghassemi.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cIn four months the authorities arrested, investigated, tried, convicted, reviewed and executed two men\u2014neither of whom were given adequate provision for defense or due process,\u201d said Ghaemi. \u201cThis is a slaughtering of justice and demonstrates complete disregard for the rule of law.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">For interviews, contact:<br \/>\nHadi Ghaemi<br \/>\n+1-917-669-5996<br \/>\nhadighaemi@iranhumanrights.org<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Visit our website:\u00a0www.iranhumanrights.or<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>November 14, 2018\u2014The hanging today of two individuals who were convicted of economic crimes in Iran\u2019s new\u00a0corruption courts\u00a0is unlawful and inhumane, as these courts deny due process and do not<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[55,438,437],"class_list":["post-1330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-human-rights","tag-execution","tag-mohammad-esmail-ghassem","tag-vahid-mazloumin"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1330"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1330\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1331,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1330\/revisions\/1331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}