Iranian MP says corruption convicts ‘must be executed in public squares’

The head of an Iranian parliament committee to combat economic corruption, Amir Khojasteh, has called for the public execution of those found guilty of corruption.

“Thirty one people have been identified as behind Iran’s economic corruption and must be executed in public squares,” Khojasteh said, according to local news sites.

“The death penalty has been handed out to four of them and the rest must also receive the same punishment,” Khojasteh said, not naming those who have been accused or convicted of corruption.

In recent months, Iran has executed three people found guilty of economic corruption.

One of the executed men was Vahid Mazloumin, dubbed the “sultan of coins” by media, a trader accused of manipulating the currency market, according to Mizan, the news site of the Iranian judiciary.

Mazloumin was allegedly caught with two tons of gold coins, according to the Iranian Students’ News Agency (ISNA).

The second man was part of Mazloumin’s network and had been involved in the sale of gold coins, Mizan reported.

Both of them were convicted of “spreading corruption on earth”, a capital offence under Iran’s Islamic laws.

Legal analysts have pointed out that the Islamic Republic of Iran's penal code does not include the death penalty for those convicted of economic corruption, but that Iranian authorities are using it to control the diving currency market in Iran.

Observers also believe the aim of these executions is to silence labor protests and repeated factional strikes.

- With Reuters