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Sunday, December 29, 2024  
26 Jumada Al-Akhirah 1446  

Iran hangs six 'tourist kidnappers' in public

Iran hangs six 'tourist kidnappers' in publicIran has publicly hanged in the south-eastern city of Zahedan six members of a Sunni 'terrorist' group convicted of abducting European tourists and armed robbery, a press report said Monday.
The men, identified only as Behzad N., Mohammad-Amin H., Abdollah Sh., Mohsen S., Majid K., and Nader K. were all members of a "terrorist group led by Abdolmalek (Rigi)", the Ayande-No daily said.
The men had reportedly kidnapped Dutch, German, and Irish tourists travelling through Iran and also set a police car on fire, killing four people, the report said.
It appeared to be referring to the abduction by armed bandits in December 2003 of one Irish and two German tourists cycling through Iran, who were later released unharmed.
The militant group Jondullah (Soldiers of God), headed by Rigi, has been held responsible for murdering 22 people in March in the south-eastern Sistan-Balochistan province and another 12 on a road in southern Kerman
province in May.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2006