The first death sentence has been issued over the protests in Iran that have shaken the country's clerical leadership, the judiciary said.
Weeks of protests since the death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of the morality police, have been met with a harsh response from Iranian authorities that has led to thousands of arrests.
Norway-based rights organisation Iran Human Rights said at least 20 people were facing charges punishable with death.
The person sentenced to death in a Tehran court, who was not identified, was found guilty of “setting fire to a government building, disturbing public order, assembly and conspiracy to commit a crime against national security”, as well as being “an enemy of God” and of “corruption on earth”, the judiciary website Mizan Online reported on Sunday.
Another court in Tehran sentenced five others to prison terms of between five and 10 years for “gathering and conspiring to commit crimes against national security and disturbing public order”, Mizan said.
Earlier this month, 272 of Iran's 290 parliamentarians demanded that the judiciary apply the death penalty, in “an eye for an eye” retributive justice against those who “have harmed people's lives and property with bladed weapons and firearms”.
“We are very concerned that the death sentences may be carried out hastily,” Iran Human Rights director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam told AFP.
“The international community must send a strong warning to the Iranian authorities that implementation of the death sentence for protesters is not acceptable and will have heavy consequences.”
Mizan and other local media also said the judiciary had charged more than 750 people in three provinces for involvement in “recent riots”.
More than 2,000 people had already been charged, nearly half of them in the capital Tehran, since the demonstrations began, according to judiciary figures.
The purge has also led to the arrest of dozens of activists, journalists and lawyers whose continued detention has caused an international outcry.
Iranian authorities on Sunday transferred to hospital prominent dissident Hossein Ronaghi who was arrested in September and has been on hunger strike for more than 50 days, his brother said.
Mr Ronaghi was taken to Evin prison after his arrest on September 24. His family said he was at risk of dying because of a kidney condition and that both his legs had been broken in prison.
On Sunday, his brother said he was moved to the Dey general hospital in Tehran.
“Hossein was taken to one of the departments of the Dey hospital,” Hassan Ronaghi wrote. He said his parents had been prevented from seeing their son. “His life is in danger.”
Iran criticised a meeting between French President Emmanuel Macron and Iranian dissidents on Friday, calling his comments after the encounter “regrettable and shameful”.
Mr Macron met four prominent dissidents, all of them women, and afterwards spoke of his “respect and admiration in the context of the revolution they are leading”.
Masih Alinejad, the prominent US-based activist who has campaigned against the compulsory headscarf and was at the meeting, told AFP: “President Macron recognised the Iranian revolution and that's a truly historical decision.”
According to IHR, at least 326 people have been killed by the security forces' response to nationwide protests.
This figure includes at least 123 people killed in the province of Sistan-Baluchistan, on Iran's south-eastern border with Pakistan.
Most were killed on September 30, when security forces opened fire on protesters after Friday prayers in Zahedan, the capital of Sistan-Baluchistan — a massacre activists have dubbed “Bloody Friday”.
The September 30 protest was triggered by the alleged rape in custody of a 15-year-old girl by a police commander in the province's port city of Chabahar.
A delegation from Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei expressed sadness and promised solutions in a weekend visit to Zahedan, official media said.
The city's police chief and the head of a police station had already been dismissed, local officials said.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESmartCrowd%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2018%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounder%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESiddiq%20Farid%20and%20Musfique%20Ahmed%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EDubai%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFinTech%20%2F%20PropTech%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInitial%20investment%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E%24650%2C000%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ECurrent%20number%20of%20staff%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2035%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESeries%20A%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EVarious%20institutional%20investors%20and%20notable%20angel%20investors%20(500%20MENA%2C%20Shurooq%2C%20Mada%2C%20Seedstar%2C%20Tricap)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Skoda Superb Specs
Engine: 2-litre TSI petrol
Power: 190hp
Torque: 320Nm
Price: From Dh147,000
Available: Now
