May 24
IRAN----execution
Report: Iran billionaire executed over $2.6B fraud
A billionaire businessman at the heart of a $2.6 billion state bank scam, the
largest fraud case since the country's 1979 Islamic Revolution, was executed
Saturday, state television reported.
Authorities put Mahafarid Amir Khosravi, also known as Amir Mansour Aria, to
death at Evin prison, just north of the capital, Tehran, the station reported.
The report said the execution came after Iran's Supreme Court upheld his death
sentence.
The fraud involved using forged documents to get credit at one of Iran's top
financial institutions, Bank Saderat, to purchase assets including state-owned
companies like major steel producer Khuzestan Steel Co.
Khosravi's business empire included more than 35 companies from mineral water
production to a football club and meat imports from Brazil. According to
Iranian media reports, the bank fraud began in 2007.
A total of 39 defendants were convicted in the case. 4 received death
sentences, 2 got life sentences and the rest received sentences of up to 25
years in prison.
The trials raised questions about corruption at senior levels in Iran's tightly
controlled economy during the administration of former President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad.
Mahmoud Reza Khavari, a former head of Bank Melli, another major Iranian bank,
escaped to Canada in 2011 after he resigned over the case. He faces charges
over the case in Iran and remains on the Islamic Republic's wanted list.
Khavari previously admitted that his bank partially was involved in the fraud,
but has maintained his innocence.
(source: NCR-Iran)
INDIA:
Death penalty: Law panel seeks views
India had an execution free run for 8 years before the execution of Ajmal Kasab
and Afzal Guru last year. The Supreme Court, which has averted at least 19
imminent executions in recent past, has asked the Law Commission to undertake a
study and suggest whether capital punishment should be retained in certain
category like terror incidents or should be abolished all together.
On Friday, the law panel floated a consultation paper inviting comments before
finalizing its recommendation. The panel in its paper has cited different
standards adopted by the judiciary and the executive while treating death
penalty.
"While the standard applied by the judiciary is that of the rarest of rare
principle, the standard applied by the executive in granting commutation is not
known," it said while emphasizing the need for an informed debate on the issue.
Despite the fact that the United Nations had adopted a resolution calling upon
countries to establish a moratorium on executions and abolish death penalty,
India is one of the 59 countries which still retain the capital punishment. The
SC has also asked the Law panel to look into UN resolution and examine "whether
death penalty is a deterrent punishment or is retributive justice or serves an
incapacitative goal."
The commission proposes to collect death penalty related data from various
trial courts, High Courts and the Supreme Court. Prison authorities will also
be requested for data on death row conditions, the paper said. The commission
may also involve various law schools to conduct qualitative and quantitative
research on various death penalty themes.
(source: Thje Times of India)
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