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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Iran ready to hang 14 Sunni rebels in city park |
| 2009-07-14 |
| TEHRAN: Iran will hang 14 members of a Sunni rebel group in public today, including a brother of its leader Abdolmalek Rigi, a semi-official news agency reported yesterday. Predominantly Shi'ite Muslim Iran says Jundollah (God's Soldiers) is part of the Sunni Islamist Al-Qaeda network and backed by the United States, Tehran's arch foe. Fars News Agency quoted a local judiciary statement as inviting families of the group's victims and other people to come and watch the executions at 6:30 am (0200 GMT) in a park in the southeastern city of Zahedan. Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya television reported on May 29 that Jundollah had claimed a mosque bombing the previous day in Zahedan which killed 25 people. Fars did not mention the bombing but said those sentenced to hang were convicted of mohareb, or one who is waging war against God, and of killing innocent people. It named one of the men sentenced to death as Abdolhamid Rigi, brother of Jundollah leader Abdolmalek Rigi. Fars reported on June 6 that two members of Jundollah, including a man it also named as Abdolhamid Rigi, were hanged in Zahedan. A week earlier, three people convicted of involvement in the mosque bombing were hanged in public. Media reported that clashes broke out between supporters and opponents of a Sunni cleric in the city and six people died in an arson attack. Jundollah says it fights for the rights of minority Sunnis in officially Shi'ite Muslim Iran. Zahedan is the capital of Sistan-Baluchestan province, where most people are minority Sunni Muslims and ethnic Baluchis. Close to Pakistan and Afghanistan, the region has seen frequent clashes between security forces and heavily armed drug smugglers, as well intermittent attacks by Sunni Baluchi rebels. Murder, adultery, rape, armed robbery, apostasy and drug trafficking are all punishable by death in the Islamic state. The official IRNA news agency said yesterday three drug traffickers were put to death in central Markazi province. The European Union earlier this month denounced Iran for a spate of executions, including the hanging of 20 drug traffickers on July 4 in a jail in a city west of Tehran. A few days earlier 12 other people were executed in two other cities, including six for murder in a Tehran jail. Iran usually carries out executions in its prisons. The human rights group Amnesty International has listed Iran as the world's second most prolific executioner in 2008 after China, and says Iran executed at least 346 people last year. Executions have increased since authorities began a campaign against "immoral behaviour" in 2007. Iran says it implements Islamic law and rejects accusations it is violating human rights. - Reuters |
| Posted by:Steve |