Iran sentences bank fraudsters to death

Maybe the judges read Jason Zweig’s article from over the weekend.

An Iranian court has sentenced four people to death for their role in a $2.8bn bank fraud, in a ruling that is set to intensify the battle between president Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad and conservative opponents ahead of a crucial election next year.

On Monday, Iran’s judiciary spokesman Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei said four people suspected of involvement in the fraud, the country’s biggest ever, had been sentenced to death, according to the semi-official ISNA news agency.

“The judge of the big corruption case has issued a death verdict for four out of the 39 suspects,” Mr Ejei said in his weekly press briefing, declining to name the four suspects. The others have been sentenced to life imprisonment and face jail terms as long as 25 years.