Iran Hangs A Member Of Sunni Rebel Group
Abdolhamid Rigi at a press conference in Zahedan in August
November 03, 2009
TEHRAN (Reuters) -- Iran has executed a convicted member of the Jundallah Sunni rebel group, the semi-official Fars news agency has reported.
"Abdolhamid Rigi...was hanged inside a prison in the southeastern city of Zahedan on Monday [November 2]," Fars quoted senior police official Gholamali Nekui as saying.
Rigi had been convicted of various charges, including "moharebe," or waging war against God, punishable by the death sentence under Iran's Islamic law.
Jundallah (Soldiers of God) claimed responsibility for the October 18 attack in Iran's impoverished Sistan-Baluchistan Province that killed more than 40 Iranians, including 15 members of the elite Revolutionary Guards.
Tribal chiefs and other civilians also died in the deadliest such incident in Iran since the 1980s.
Many minority Sunnis live in the desert area, which has seen an increase in bombings and clashes between security forces, ethnic Baluch Sunni insurgents, and drug traffickers.