TEHRAN: An Iranian court has sentenced to death a Tajik man convicted over carrying out a deadly gun attack on a Shiite Muslim shrine in August, the judiciary said Thursday.
The attack on the Shah Cheragh mausoleum in Shiraz, capital of Fars province in Iran’s south, came less than a year after a mass shooting at the same site that was later claimed by the Daesh group.
Nine suspects — all of them foreigners — were arrested after the August 13 attack, which killed two people and wounded seven others.
The convicted attacker, identified as Rahmatollah Nowruzof from Tajikistan and described as an Daesh member, was handed two death sentences, the judiciary’s Mizan Online website reported.
He was convicted on charges of “moharebeh,” or waging war against God, as well as “sedition and collusion against the security of the country,” the website said.
Two other men were sentenced to five years in prison and deportation from the country over “participating in gatherings and collusion with the intention of disrupting the country’s security,” it added.
Footage and pictures published following the attack showed windows shattered by bullets, and blood staining the ground in a courtyard of the arched and colonnaded complex.
The European Union and several countries including Iraq, Russia and France condemned the shooting and expressed their condolences.
In October 2022, a mass shooting at the shrine left 13 people dead and 30 wounded. Daesh later claimed the attack.
Iran hanged two men in public on July 8 over the killings after their conviction for “corruption on earth, armed rebellion and acting against national security,” Mizan said at the time.
London-based rights group Amnesty International says Iran executes more people than any other country except China and hanged at least 582 people last year, the highest number since 2015.
The Shah Cheragh mausoleum is home to the tomb of Ahmad, brother of Imam Reza — the eighth Shiite imam — and is considered the holiest site in southern Iran.
Iran sentences to death Tajik over Shiite shrine attack
https://arab.news/yqdkt
Iran sentences to death Tajik over Shiite shrine attack
- Nine suspects — all of them foreigners — were arrested after the August 13 attack
- The convicted attacker, identified as Rahmatollah Nowruzof from Tajikistan and described as an Daesh member, was handed two death sentences
Katz orders West Bank raid after deadly attack in Israel
- Friday’s stabbing and car-ramming attack in northern Israel triggered the minister’s action
JERUSALEM: Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz on Friday ordered the military to launch an operation in the village of Qabatiya in the occupied West Bank after it emerged that a Palestinian who killed two people came from there.
The minister instructed the Israeli forces to “act forcefully and immediately against the village of Qabatiya, from which the murderous terrorist emerged, in order to locate and thwart every terrorist and strike the village’s terror infrastructure,” Katz’s office said in a statement.
“Anyone who aids terrorism or sponsors and backs it will pay the full price,” it added.
BACKGROUND
Friday’s attack comes just days after Israeli soldiers shot dead a Palestinian teenager in the Qabatiya area.
The military said in a separate statement that it was preparing to begin an operation in Qabatiya in the northern West Bank, which has seen repeated violent incidents.
Friday’s stabbing and car-ramming attack in northern Israel triggered the minister’s action.
The assault came a day after an Israeli military reservist dressed in civilian clothes rammed his vehicle into a Palestinian man in the West Bank, where violence has surged since the war in Gaza began.
“Preliminary investigation indicates this was a rolling terror attack that began in the city of Beit Shean, where a pedestrian was run over,” Israeli police said in a statement about Friday’s attack, adding that the victim was a 68-year-old man.
“Later, a young woman was stabbed near Road 71, and the suspect was ultimately engaged with gunfire near Maonot Junction in Afula following intervention by a civilian bystander,” it said, adding that the attacker was taken to hospital.
Both victims succumbed to the injuries, Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency services said in a statement.
MDA also reported that a 16-year-old was slightly injured when “hit by a vehicle.
The Israeli military said the attacker had “infiltrated into Israeli territory several days ago.”
President Isaac Herzog condemned the attack.
Friday’s attack comes just days after Israeli soldiers shot dead a Palestinian teenager in the Qabatiya area.
The military has launched an investigation into the incident after footage emerged showing the teenager not posing any threat or throwing anything at soldiers who shot him.
The attack on Friday also came a day after an Israeli military reservist dressed in civilian clothes rammed his vehicle into a Palestinian man in the
West Bank.
In videos on social media purporting to show that incident, the victim is seen praying by the roadside when the soldier rams him with his vehicle.
