{"id":2443,"date":"2018-11-16T16:34:46","date_gmt":"2018-11-16T16:34:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/?p=2443"},"modified":"2018-11-16T17:34:28","modified_gmt":"2018-11-16T17:34:28","slug":"iran-executes-sultan-of-coins-amid-currency-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/2018\/11\/16\/iran-executes-sultan-of-coins-amid-currency-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran executes &#8216;Sultan of Coins&#8217; amid currency crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"column--primary\">\n<div class=\"story-body\">\n<div class=\"story-body__inner\">\n<p class=\"story-body__introduction\">Iran has executed a currency trader known as the &#8220;Sultan of Coins&#8221; for amassing some two tonnes of gold coins.<\/p>\n<p>Vahid Mazloumin and another member of his currency trading network received the death penalty for &#8220;spreading corruption on earth&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>According to the Iranian Students&#8217; News Agency, Mr Mazloumin and associates had hoarded the coins to manipulate prices.<\/p>\n<p>Rights group Amnesty International described the executions as &#8220;horrific&#8221; and a violation of international law.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Use of the death penalty is appalling under any circumstances,&#8221; Amnesty said in a statement on Wednesday, adding that under international law &#8220;the death penalty is absolutely forbidden for non-lethal crimes, such as financial corruption&#8221;.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"story-body__unordered-list\">\n<li class=\"story-body__list-item\"><a class=\"story-body__link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-middle-east-44710012\">Iranian police arrest &#8216;Sultan of Coins&#8217;<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"story-body__list-item\"><a class=\"story-body__link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-middle-east-44052734\">The impact of Iran sanctions &#8211; in charts<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Amnesty went on to say that the manner in which the trials were &#8220;fast-tracked&#8221; displayed a &#8220;brazen disregard&#8221; for due process.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"story-body__crosshead\">How did these executions come about?<\/h2>\n<p>Mr Mazloumin was arrested in July for operating as a speculator and accused of hoarding gold coins with the aim of later manipulating prices on the local market.<\/p>\n<p>In August, Iran&#8217;s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei approved a judicial request to set up special courts to deal with those suspected of financial crimes.<\/p>\n<p>Since then, these courts have sentenced several people to death in trials often broadcast live on state television.<\/p>\n<p>The second man executed, who was also convicted of &#8220;spreading corruption&#8221;, was linked to Mr Mazloumin&#8217;s network and was reportedly involved in the sale of gold coins, according to Mizan, the official website of Iran&#8217;s judiciary.<\/p>\n<p>Both men were executed by hanging.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"story-body__crosshead\">Why are gold coins in high demand in Iran?<\/h2>\n<p>Demand for gold coins and US dollars in Iran has soared as the country&#8217;s currency has declined in value.<\/p>\n<p>In the wake of the\u00a0<a class=\"story-body__link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/business-46092435\">latest round of US sanctions on Iran<\/a>, the rial has fallen about 70% against the US dollar, while gold coins have grown more expensive.<\/p>\n<p>As a result, a cost of living crisis has seen demonstrators take to the streets against perceived corruption.<\/p>\n<p>The tough US sanctions on Iran target the country&#8217;s oil and finance sectors. Iran is heavily dependent on its exports of oil, and the renewed sanctions, if effective, would cause yet further damage to the economy.<\/p>\n<p>Tehran has been battling instability in its financial markets since April, when the government attempted to stabilise currency prices by introducing a single official dollar exchange rate.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"column--secondary\" role=\"complementary\">\n<div id=\"comp-features-and-analysis\" class=\"features-and-analysis\">\n<div class=\"features-and-analysis__stories promo-unit-spacer\">\n<div class=\"features-and-analysis__story\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Iran has executed a currency trader known as the &#8220;Sultan of Coins&#8221; for amassing some two tonnes of gold coins. Vahid Mazloumin and another member of his currency trading network received the death penalty for &#8220;spreading corruption on earth&#8221;. According to the Iranian Students&#8217; News Agency, Mr Mazloumin and associates had hoarded the coins to manipulate prices. Rights group Amnesty&#8230; <a href=\"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/2018\/11\/16\/iran-executes-sultan-of-coins-amid-currency-crisis\/\">Read more &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":100,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/100"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2443"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2443\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2456,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2443\/revisions\/2456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}