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Iran executes member of Sufi minority and a baby killer
TEHRAN, June 18, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Iran on Monday executed two men
convicted of homicide, one a member of the Sufi minority found guilty of
killing policemen and another for murdering a baby girl, officials said.
The men were hanged to death despite outcries from human rights
organisations.
Mohammad Reza Salas was sentenced to death in March for driving a bus
into a group of police officers during February clashes with security forces,
killing three policemen.
Salas belongs to the minority Sufi sect, a mystic branch of Islam
tolerated in Iran but perceived as a “deviation” by many conservatives
members of the Shiite community.
Mizan Online, the judiciary’s news agency, said the death sentence
against Salas “was implemented Monday morning”.
Rights groups had denounced the death sentence and called on authorities
to revoke it.
“This case has laid bare the flaws in Iran’s criminal justice system for
all to see,” London-based Amnesty International said on Sunday.
It said that Salas, who was born in 1967, was forced to testify under
duress and had received an “unfair trial”.
Two members of the Basij, an Islamic militia tasked with a number of
policing duties, were also killed in the clashes.
The unrest erupted as members of Iran’s Gonabadi Sufi order, known as
dervishes, protested the arrest of members of the sect and a rumour that
their leader would soon be detained.
At his trial, Salas repeatedly said he never intended on killing anyone,
but gave contradictory statements on the circumstances that led to the death
of the three policemen, according to Iranian media.
Also on Monday, Mohammad Vefaie was executed for the killing of an eight-
month-old baby girl named Benita in July 2017, official IRNA news agency
said.
Vefaie had stolen a car belonging to Benita’s father while the child was
sitting in the vehicle.
He later abandoned the car, leaving the baby trapped inside for several
hours in scorching summer heat until she was found dead by police.
Iran does not publish official statistics on the number of people it has
executed.
According to an April report by Amnesty International, China is the
world’s “top executioner” but Iran had the highest known figure in 2017 with
at least 507 people put to death, six of them women.
BSS/AFP/ARS/1745 hrs