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Four men hanged in public in
Baluchistan (Iran)
Iran Focus
Tehran, Iran, Jul. 12 – Four men were hanged in public in the
south-eastern city of Zabol, Sistan-va-Baluchistan Province, on Wednesday,
the official news agency IRNA reported.
The four were identified as Mehdi Zori, Houshang Kiani, Jamaloddin Jamali,
and Abdol-Rahman Safar-Zehi were accused of “instigating trouble” and
drug-related offences.
Iranian authorities routinely execute dissidents on the bogus charge of
drug smuggling.
Sistan-va-Baluchistan Province is home to Baluchis, a predominantly Sunni
Muslim ethnic minority.
Iran has witnessed escalating unrest since 2006 in areas populated by
Baluchis, who complain of discriminatory and repressive policies by the
theocratic regime.
In recent months, Iranian authorities have stepped up executions in the
restive province in what many Baluchis believe is a response to a spate of
attacks by dissidents on government and security officials.
A Baluchi group opposed to the government of Iran calling itself Jondollah
has claimed responsibility for a string of armed attacks on government
officials including an ambush in March on a government convoy, which left
twenty-two security and provincial officials dead and at least seven,
including the governor of the city of Zahedan, critically wounded.
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98 executed in Iran so far
this year
Iran Focus
Tehran, Iran, Jul. 12 – Iran’s state-run media reported half a dozen
executions on Wednesday bringing to 98 the number of executions reported
in the state media since the start of 2006.
At least a dozen minors and women have been among the victims.
Four men were hanged in public in the southern city of Zabol,
Sistan-va-Baluchistan Province, on Wednesday, the official news agency
IRNA reported.
The four were identified as Mehdi Zori, Houshang Kiani, Jamaloddin Jamali,
and Abdol-Rahman Safar-Zehi were accused of “instigating trouble” and
drug-related offences.
The government-run news agency Fars reported on Wednesday that a young man
was hanged in public in the northern city of Shahroud. The 31-year-old man
was only identified by his first name Davoud. He was accused of rape.
A man identified as Ali-Reza Ranjbar was hanged in prison in the western
city of Boroujerd on Tuesday, the official news agency IRNA reported. He
was accused of murdering another man.
Another man, identified only as 34-year-old Behzad, was hanged in public
in the central city of Isfahan on Tuesday on charges of kidnapping, the
daily Etemaad Melli reported on Wednesday. His alleged accomplice, a woman
identified only as Anita, was sentenced to 10 years in prison, 74 lashes,
and a fine.
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