Iran yesterday hanged three men in public convicted of involvement in a suicide bombing at a Shiite mosque this week that killed 25 people, the official IRNA news agency reported.
“The terrorists Haji Noti Zehi, Gholam Rasoul Shahi Zehi and Zabihollah Naroui were hanged at 6am near the Amir al-Momenin mosque in public,” an official said, referring to the mosque where the bombing took place on Thursday.
“They confessed to illegally bringing explosives into Iran and giving them to the main person behind the bombing,” IRNA quoted the official, Sistan-Baluchestan judiciary public relations chief Hojatoeslam Ebrahim Hamidi, as saying.
“They were convicted of being mohareb [enemies of God] and ‘corrupt on the earth’ and acting against national security,” he said.
“They were arrested before Thursday’s bombing but they confessed that they had provided the explosives for the bombing. They were tried and they had court-appointed legal representation,” Hamidi said.
On Friday, Jalal Sayah, deputy governor of Sistan-Baluchestan, the province bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan where the attack took place, said that “three people involved with the terrorist incident were arrested.”
“According to the information obtained, they were hired by America and the agents of the arrogance,” Sayah added.
Officials usually use the term “global arrogance” to refer to Iran’s arch-foe the US.
Interior Minister Sadeq Mahsouli also pointed the finger towards the US and Israel.
US State Department spokesman Ian Kelly denied emphatically that Washington was behind the attack, which it condemned “in the strongest possible terms.”
“The US strongly condemns all forms of terrorism. We do not sponsor any form of terrorism in Iran and we continue to work with the international community to try to prevent any attacks against innocent civilians anywhere,” Kelly told reporters in Washington on Friday.
Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary, expressed strong condemnation and said: “The American people send their deepest condolences to the victims [of the attacks] and their families. No cause justifies terrorism and the United States condemns it in any form, in any country, against any people.”
Kelly noted that the target of the attacks served Muslims of Iran’s Shiite majority and coupled it with recent violence against Shiite mosques elsewhere.
“We note with concern a recent trend of bombings of Shia mosques in Iraq and Pakistan, as well as in Iran, and strongly condemn any kind of sectarian-driven violence,” Kelly said.
Asked about the Iranian accusation of US complicity in the attack, Kelly said: “We do not sponsor any form of terrorism anywhere in the world. Never have, never will.”
In the sweltering streets of Jakarta, buskers carry towering, hollow puppets and pass around a bucket for donations. Now, they fear becoming outlaws. City authorities said they would crack down on use of the sacred ondel-ondel puppets, which can stand as tall as a truck, and they are drafting legislation to remove what they view as a street nuisance. Performances featuring the puppets — originally used by Jakarta’s Betawi people to ward off evil spirits — would be allowed only at set events. The ban could leave many ondel-ondel buskers in Jakarta jobless. “I am confused and anxious. I fear getting raided or even
Eleven people, including a former minister, were arrested in Serbia on Friday over a train station disaster in which 16 people died. The concrete canopy of the newly renovated station in the northern city of Novi Sad collapsed on Nov. 1, 2024 in a disaster widely blamed on corruption and poor oversight. It sparked a wave of student-led protests and led to the resignation of then-Serbian prime minister Milos Vucevic and the fall of his government. The public prosecutor’s office in Novi Sad opened an investigation into the accident and deaths. In February, the public prosecutor’s office for organized crime opened another probe into
RISING RACISM: A Japanese group called on China to assure safety in the country, while the Chinese embassy in Tokyo urged action against a ‘surge in xenophobia’ A Japanese woman living in China was attacked and injured by a man in a subway station in Suzhou, China, Japanese media said, hours after two Chinese men were seriously injured in violence in Tokyo. The attacks on Thursday raised concern about xenophobic sentiment in China and Japan that have been blamed for assaults in both countries. It was the third attack involving Japanese living in China since last year. In the two previous cases in China, Chinese authorities have insisted they were isolated incidents. Japanese broadcaster NHK did not identify the woman injured in Suzhou by name, but, citing the Japanese
RESTRUCTURE: Myanmar’s military has ended emergency rule and announced plans for elections in December, but critics said the move aims to entrench junta control Myanmar’s military government announced on Thursday that it was ending the state of emergency declared after it seized power in 2021 and would restructure administrative bodies to prepare for the new election at the end of the year. However, the polls planned for an unspecified date in December face serious obstacles, including a civil war raging over most of the country and pledges by opponents of the military rule to derail the election because they believe it can be neither free nor fair. Under the restructuring, Myanmar’s junta chief Min Aung Hlaing is giving up two posts, but would stay at the
RSS