SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Iran executed on Saturday ethnic Baluch militant convicted of killing members of Revolutionary Guards, the judiciary’s official website reported, despite international calls for the execution to be halted.
Mizan online reported that Javid Dehghan was put to death early in the morning for shooting dead two Guards five years ago the southeastern Sistan-Baluchistan province.
The Mizan site said Dehghan was a leader of the Sunni militant group Jaish al-Adl or the Army of Justice.
Jaish al-Adl, which says it seeks greater rights and better living conditions for ethnic minority Baluchis, has claimed responsibility for several attacks in recent years on Iranian security forces in the province, Reuters reported.
Dehghan was arrested in June 2015 and later convicted of being “one of the leaders” of a “terrorist” group linked to the Sunni militant group, Mizan said.
Also known as Mohammad Omar, he had been found guilty of carrying out “armed action against the state”, the website said, according to AFP.
In a tweet on Friday, the United Nations human rights office called for a halt to Dehghan’s imminent execution and condemned “a series of executions – at least 28 – since mid-December, including of people from minority groups.”
World bodies and human rights groups have often criticised Iran for its rights record and large number of executions – the world’s highest after China, according to Amnesty International.
On Thursday, state media said an Iranian member of Islamic State was executed in southwestern Khuzestan province, home to many of Iran’s ethnic Arabs, for taking part in an attack that killed two paramilitary Basij militiamen, according to Reuters.
