Tehran hangs a ‘repentant’ Jundullah leader
Arrested on 23 February, the 30-year-old rebel leader was convicted for bombing operations, kidnapping and murder as well as complicity with foreign secret services, especially those of the United States and Israel. In the past, Iran had accused Rigi of working with the United States, Great Britain, Israel and Pakistan.
The authorities in Tehran, who have the support of the domestic political opposition against Sunni rebels, claim that in his seven years at the helm of Jundullah, Rigi was responsible for the death of 154 people in operations carried out by his organisation, as well as 320 wounded.
Rigi’s trial was held in camera and no information has been released about the proceedings. Even the death penalty was announced at the last moment, yesterday morning, when he was executed.
According to Iranian media, Rigi met the families of his victims, asking them for forgiveness. The same sources said that he asked the authorities for mercy, which was refused.
Some of the relatives of his victims were present at the execution. ISNA said that just before he was hanged, Rigi called on his Sunni group to stop its errors. Others believe the appeal to be a fabrication by the authorities.
Abdolmalek Rigi’s brother, Abdolhamid, was also executed on 24 May 2010. Pakistan handed him over to Iran in 2008.
Abdolmalek Rigi was arrested four months ago on board a plane bound from Dubai to Kyrgyzstan; Iranian fighters intercepted the plane and forced it to land on Iranian territory.
Jundullah recruits primarily among ethnic Baluchis, a group concentrated in Iran’s Sistan and Baluchestan Province as well as in neighbouring areas in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Most Baluchis are Sunni in a country like the Islamic Republic of Iran that is 90 per cent Shia.
It carried its most spectacular operation on 18 October 2009 in the town of Pishin when a suicide bomber detonated explosives that killed more than 40 people, including some 15 Pasdarans, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards who are loyal to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
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