Three executed in Iran for 'terrorist' acts and murder

Two of the three men executed in southeast Sistan-Baluchistan province had been convicted of working with the jihadist Jaish al-Adl group, responsible for a string of high-profile anti-government attacks.
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Last year, 27 IRGC fighters were killed in an attack claimed by Jaish al-Adl [Getty]

Iran's judiciary hanged two men on Sunday for "terrorist acts" and another for murder and armed robbery, the body's official Mizan Online news agency said.

The three were executed early Sunday morning in the southeastern Sistan-Baluchistan province.

Two were named as Hassan Dehvari and Elias Qalandarzehi, arrested in April 2014 after being found with "a large amount of explosives" and weapons.

The pair were convicted of the abduction, bombing, murder of security forces and civilians, and of working with the jihadist Jaish al-Adl ("Army of Justice") group, Mizan said.

Dehvari and Qalandarzei were also arrested in possession of documents from Jaish al-Adl on "how to make bombs" as well as "takfiri fatwas", terms used by Iran's Shia authorities to refer to decrees issued by Sunni jihadists.

Jaish al-Adl has carried out several high-profile bombings and abductions in Iran in recent years.

In February 2019, 27 members of Iran's Revolutionary Guards were killed in a suicide attack claimed by the group.

Read more: Scores killed in suicide attack on Iranian Revolutionary Guard bus

Jaish al-Adl was formed in 2012 as a successor to Sunni extremist group Jundallah ("Soldiers of God"), which waged a deadly insurgency for a decade before it was severely weakened by the capture and execution of its leader Abdolmalek Rigi in 2010.

The third man executed was named as Omid Mahmoudzehi. He was convicted of armed robbery and the murder of civilians, Mizan said.

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