TEHRAN: In a mass prison execution, Iran on Tuesday hanged 13 rebels from the shadowy Sunni insurgent group Jundallah as “enemies of God” for a string of attacks, including kidnapping of foreigners.
The official IRNA news agency said the insurgents were executed in prison in the restive southeastern border city of Zahedan, epicenter of a rebellion against the Shiite regime in Tehran.
“Thirteen members of this group were hanged this morning,” provincial judiciary chief Ebrahim Hamidi was quoted as saying.
The rebels were accused of being “mohareb” (enemies of God) and of “kidnapping foreigners, killing innocents and of carrying out terrorist acts for the Jundallah group,” IRNA said, quoting a local judiciary statement.
State media had announced on Monday that 14 members of Jundallah would be publicly executed on Tuesday.
“After last minute consultations, the executions were carried out in a prison,” Hamidi said. The media had also reported that Abdolhamid Rigi, brother of Jundallah leader Abdolmalik Rigi, was one of the rebels to be executed. Hamidi said Abdolhamid Rigi was not among those hanged on Tuesday but will be executed later this week.
Zahedan is the capital of Sistan-Balochestan province, which borders Afghanistan and Pakistan and is home to a sizeable ethnic Balochi population.
Jundallah has claimed repeated attacks against Iranian government targets in the province.
