Iran to publicly hang 14 Baluchi rebels

AFP

Iran to publicly hang 14 Baluchi rebels

State media announced Iran is to hang 14 convicted members of the Jundallah rebel
group on Tuesday, drawing urgent appeals for a stay of execution from human rights group Amnesty International.

The convicts, who include Abdolhamid Rigi, a brother of Jundallah (Soldiers of God) leader Abdolmalik Rigi, are to be hanged in the southeastern city of Zahedan, epicentre of the Sunni Muslim rebellion among ethnic Baluchis against the Shiite authorities in Tehran.

The provincial judiciary in Sistan-Baluchestan, of which Zahedan is the capital, invited residents of the city to attend the executions scheduled for 6:30 am (0200 GMT), the official IRNA news agency said on Monday.

Jundallah has claimed repeated attacks against Iranian government targets in the restive province which borders both Afghanistan and Pakistan, and lies on a major trafficking route for narcotics destined for Europe and the Gulf.

Amnesty International urged the Iranian government to halt the executions, charging that the 14 had not received a fair trial.

"The Iranian authorities must abide by their international obligations to uphold human rights and guarantee fair trials, which is all the more essential in death penalty cases," the London-based watchdog's Middle East and North Africa director, Malcolm Smart, said.

The rebel group said it carried out a May 28 bombing against a Shiite mosque in Zahedan that killed 25 people.

Amnesty recalled that it had "repeatedly condemned such abuses" but added that "most or all of those due to be executed tomorrow (Tuesday) are believed to have been arrested before the attack on the mosque."