Iran media: Gold traders’ execution a ‘clear message’

TEHRAN, Iran – Iran’s newspapers say today that the execution of two financial traders is a “clear message” to others seeking to “disrupt” the country’s economy.

Vahid Mazloomin, dubbed the “Sultan of Coins,” and his accomplice Mohammad Esmail Ghasemi were both executed less than a month after being convicted of “corruption on earth” — one of Iran’s most serious charges. They had been accused of exploiting a surge in gold demand from savers spooked by this year’s currency crisis, according to the judiciary’s news agency Mizan online.

News of the executions is hard to find on reformist dailies’ front pages, but conservative papers highlight it with large pictures of Mazloomin and excerpts of his last interview with Mizan before he was executed.

The ultra-conservative Javan daily writes on its front page that “the execution of economic corruptors started with the Sultan,” accompanied by a picture of Mazloomin smoking a cigarette during the interview in prison in which he spoke about his life.

The hardliner Keyhan daily calls for more trials, saying it was now time for the “officials in the banking system … complicit in this corruption” to be tried.

Jam-e Jam daily, which acts under the supervision of state TV, writes that the hanging sends a “clear message” to other “economic disruptors.”

Iran has suffered a sharp economic downturn this year, in part because of the US pulling out of the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran in May, leading many Iranians to rush to secure their savings by buying foreign exchange and precious metals. The slide of the rial against the dollar started roughly a year ago, and at its height lost around 98 percent of its value against the greenback year-on-year. The price of gold coins quadrupled in the same time. Since January, there have been widespread reports of dealers and middlemen manipulating the markets by hoarding dollars and coins in order to push up prices.

— AFP