0525 GMT: Iran's currency crisis added a note of the surreal this weekend, when 1st Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi, asking exporters not to trade currency on the streets, said "open-market" rates --- and thus the weakening of the Iranian Rial --- were determined by one man, "Jamshid Bismillah".
Later Rahimi insisted that "Jamshid Bismillah", far from being a symbol for the illegal currency vendors, was a real criminal who had been arrested, adding that he had no information on the names of 20 other "disruptors" of the currency market. Baztab hit back with a message to President Ahmadinejad, "Fire Rahimi and release Jamshid Bismillah, a.k.a. Abbas Jengir [Abbas the Genie Catcher], to lower the US dollar's exchange rate."
Amid this banter, 10 men accused on drugs charges were executed this morning. Their cases, including that of Saeed Sadighi, had become prominent in recent weeks when they were raised by Amnesty International and by United Nations Special Rapporteurs on Human Rights, Torture, and the Death Penalty. Facing the protests, Iranian authorities delayed the hangings at the last minute last weekend, but moved quickly this weekend to carry out the punishments.
Posted via email from lissping
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