Iran Sentences Tajik Man to Death over Shiraz Attack

A photo released by Mizan from the trial of three suspects in the Shiraz attack.
A photo released by Mizan from the trial of three suspects in the Shiraz attack.
TT

Iran Sentences Tajik Man to Death over Shiraz Attack

A photo released by Mizan from the trial of three suspects in the Shiraz attack.
A photo released by Mizan from the trial of three suspects in the Shiraz attack.

An Iranian court sentenced to death a Tajik man for carrying out a gun attack that caused casualties on a religious site in August, the judiciary said Thursday.

The attack on the Shah Cheragh mausoleum in Shiraz, the capital of the southern Fars province, took place less than a year after a mass shooting at the same site that was later claimed by ISIS.

Nine suspects - all of them foreigners - were arrested after the August 13 attack, which killed two people and wounded seven others.

Iran’s judiciary-affiliated Mizan said the Iranian Revolutionary Court gave Rahmatollah Norouzof two death sentences. Norouzof, described as a member of ISIS, was convicted of "sedition and collusion against the security of the country."

Two other men were sentenced to five years in prison and deportation from the country for "participating in gatherings and collusion with the intention of disrupting the country's security."

Footage and pictures published following the attack showed windows shattered by bullets and blood staining the ground.

An earlier shooting at the shrine on October 26, 2022 killed 13 people and injured 30 others. ISIS later claimed responsibility for that attack.

However, activists and human rights organizations questioned the timing and motives of these attacks that coincided with the launch of a crackdown against protests over the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody in 2022.

Iran hanged two men in public on July 8 over the attack after their conviction for "corruption on Earth, armed rebellion, and acting against national security," Mizan said.

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.



Russia Says US Using Taiwan to Stir Crisis in Asia

Participants wave Taiwanese flags during the Kuomintang (KMT) National Congress in Taoyuan on November 24, 2024. (Photo by Yu Chien Huang / AFP)
Participants wave Taiwanese flags during the Kuomintang (KMT) National Congress in Taoyuan on November 24, 2024. (Photo by Yu Chien Huang / AFP)
TT

Russia Says US Using Taiwan to Stir Crisis in Asia

Participants wave Taiwanese flags during the Kuomintang (KMT) National Congress in Taoyuan on November 24, 2024. (Photo by Yu Chien Huang / AFP)
Participants wave Taiwanese flags during the Kuomintang (KMT) National Congress in Taoyuan on November 24, 2024. (Photo by Yu Chien Huang / AFP)

The United States is using Taiwan to provoke a serious crisis in Asia, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko told TASS news agency in remarks published on Sunday, reiterating Moscow's backing of China's stance on Taiwan.
"We see that Washington, in violation of the 'one China' principle that it recognises, is strengthening military-political contacts with Taipei under the slogan of maintaining the 'status quo', and increasing arms supplies," Rudenko told the state news agency.
"The goal of such obvious US interference in the region's affairs is to provoke the PRC (People's Republic of China) and generate a crisis in Asia to suit its own selfish interests."
The report did not cite any specific contacts that Rudenko was referring to.
China views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, a claim that Taiwan's government rejects. The US is Taiwan's most important international backer and arms supplier, despite the lack of formal diplomatic recognition.
The US State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Rudenko's remarks outside office hours.
In September, President Joe Biden approved $567 million in military support for Taiwan. Russia responded that it was standing alongside China on Asian issues, including criticism of the US drive to extend its influence and "deliberate attempts" to inflame the situation around Taiwan.
China and Russia declared a "no limits" partnership in February 2022 when President Vladimir Putin visited Beijing shortly before launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, triggering the deadliest land war in Europe since World War Two.
In May this year, Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged a "new era" of partnership between the two most powerful rivals of the United States, which they cast as an aggressive Cold War hegemon sowing chaos across the world.