Iran hangs a member of Sunni rebel group - report

Tue, Nov 3 08:19 PM

Iran has executed a convicted member of the Jundollah Sunni rebel group, the semi-official Fars news agency reported on Tuesday.

"Abdolhamid Rigi...was hanged inside a prison in the southeastern city of Zahedan on Monday," Fars quoted senior police official Gholamali Nekoui as saying.

Rigi had been convicted of various charges, including moharebe or staging war against God, punishable by death sentence under Iran's Islamic law.

Jundollah (God's soldiers) claimed responsibility for the Oct. 18 attack in Iran's impoverished Sistan-Baluchestan province that killed more than 40 Iranians, including 15 members of the elite Revolutionary Guards.

Tribal chiefs and other civilians also died in the deadliest such incident in Iran since the 1980s.

Many minority Sunnis live in the desert area, which has seen an increase in bombings and clashes between security forces, ethnic Baluch Sunni insurgents and drug traffickers.

(Editing by Angus MacSwan)

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