Iran to publicly hang 14 Baloch rebels, says state media

[Naveed Yaseen]

TEHRAN: State media announced that 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, including Abdolhamid Rigi, one of Jundallah leader Abdolmalik Rigi’s brothers, are to be hanged in the southeastern city of Zahedan, epicentre of the ethnic Baloch rebellion against the authorities in Tehran. The provincial judiciary in Sistan-Baluchistan, of which Zahedan is the capital, invited residents of the city to attend the executions scheduled for 6:30am, the official IRNA news agency said on Monday.

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 14 convicts are being hanged for their role in the May 28 bombing against a Shia mosque in Zahedan. However, Amnesty said “most or all of those due to be executed tomorrow (Tuesday) are believed to have been arrested before the attack on the mosque”. afp

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