Iran on Saturday publicly executed two men involved in the attack on a Shiite shrine in Shiraz, in the south of the country, which killed 13 people last October, according to Mizan online, the judiciary website. The two men, whose nationality has not been specified, were hanged at dawn in a street in Shiraz, according to this source.
Perpetrated on October 26, the attack, which also left 30 injured, was among the deadliest in recent years in Iran. It had been claimed by the jihadist group Islamic State (IS). “The death sentence of the perpetrators of the Shah Cheragh terrorist attack was carried out in public this morning,” Mizan said online. According to the official Irna news agency, the executions took place near the shrine, a very important Shiite pilgrimage site in Iran.
Kazem Moussavi, the head of the judicial authority of the province of Fars, of which Shiraz is a part, then declared that they were directly involved in the armament, supply and logistics of the main perpetrator of the attack. The latter, identified by Iranian media as Hamed Badakhshan, died of injuries sustained during his arrest, according to the authorities. Three other defendants in this case were sentenced to 5, 15 and 25 years in prison for their membership in IS, according to Moussavi.
In November, authorities said 26 “Takfiri terrorists” from Afghanistan, Azerbaijan and Tajikistan in connection with the attack had been arrested. In Iran, a country with a Shiite majority, the term takfiri generally refers to jihadists or supporters of radical Sunni Islam. IS claimed its first attack in Iran in 2017 when gunmen and suicide bombers attacked the parliament building in Tehran and the mausoleum of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic, killing 17 and injuring tens.
Last October’s attack came more than a month after protests erupted across Iran over the death in custody of a young Iranian Kurd. Mahsa Amini, 22, died three days after she was arrested by morality police who accused her of breaking the strict dress code requiring women to wear the veil in the Islamic Republic.