Tehran Plans to Execute Gamblers

In a new blow to Iranians’ human rights, particularly the right to life, Iranian authorities plan to hang people on gambling-related charges.

On December 26, deputy chair of the Parliament (Majlis) Judicial Commission Hassan Nowruzi acknowledged that the Majlis Judicial Commission has recently drafted a bill to confront gambling websites’ admins.

“This plan considers the death penalty for gambling-related offenders due to ‘corruption on earth,’” Nowruzi said in an interview with Fars news agency, affiliated to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), on December 26.

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Earlier, the State Security Forces (SSF) announced that it had detained ten citizens on gambling-related charges. Colonel Mostafa Nowruzi, chief of the SSF Center for Combating National and Organized Cyber Crimes, reported this news during a press conference. (The two Nowruzis are not related.)

On the other hand, the deputy chair of the Majlis Judicial Commission reckoned that the new plan was in accordance with the Islamic Republic’s Penal Code. “Recently, MPs submitted a plan titled, ‘The Expansion of Articles 705 to 711 of the Islamic Penal Code’s Fifth Book,’ to the presidium. The plan has expanded gambling punishments to gambling in cyberspace,” Hassan Nowruzi said.

“The plan consists of restrict punishments for groups and gangs. In the case of repetition and persistence on crime and non-repenting, judges can issue the death sentence against gamblers and bettors for ‘corruption on earth’ even if they acted in the form of groups or gangs,” the deputy chair added.

Furthermore, Hassan Nowruzi announced that the government and the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) must take necessary actions to counter ‘corruption.’ This is while almost all sensitive administrative apparatuses, including the judiciary, the CBI, and the government, are drowned in unbridled corruption.

“The corruption looks like a seven-head dragon. Once we cut one of its heads, it keeps moving with other heads,” said the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in February 2018. All the while, Khamenei himself manages a multi-billion trade that included eight giant economic conglomerates.

“According to the plan, the government is tasked with performing several actions through the CBI. It must deal mercilessly with different types of corruption by bettors. In this respect, the CBI has been tasked with prohibiting these people from misusing the country’s economic and financial system. The plan has also considered several duties for the ministries of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Interior Affairs, as well as Cyber Police, Justice Department, and Judiciary,” Hassan Nowruzi said.

The growth of gambling activities, particularly in cyberspace, is a direct outcome of the government’s economic mismanagement. In other words, the people, whose meager incomes have dried up due to poverty and unemployment, see gambling as an instrument to feed their families.

However, the government continues to restrict people’s access to the internet due to its weakness in conquering cyberspace.

Source: iranfocus.com, J. Katiraie, December 27, 2020

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