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.
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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 Launches Drone Attack on Kyiv

This handout photograph taken and released by the Ukrainian Emergency Service on November 21, 2024 shows Ukrainian firefighters work on a spot following an air-attack, in Dnipro, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Handout / State Emergency Service of Ukraine / AFP)
This handout photograph taken and released by the Ukrainian Emergency Service on November 21, 2024 shows Ukrainian firefighters work on a spot following an air-attack, in Dnipro, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Handout / State Emergency Service of Ukraine / AFP)
TT

Russia Launches Drone Attack on Kyiv

This handout photograph taken and released by the Ukrainian Emergency Service on November 21, 2024 shows Ukrainian firefighters work on a spot following an air-attack, in Dnipro, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Handout / State Emergency Service of Ukraine / AFP)
This handout photograph taken and released by the Ukrainian Emergency Service on November 21, 2024 shows Ukrainian firefighters work on a spot following an air-attack, in Dnipro, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Handout / State Emergency Service of Ukraine / AFP)

Ukraine's air defense units destroyed more than 10 Russia drones that were targeting Kyiv in an overnight drone attack, Ukraine's military said on Sunday.
There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries as result of the attack, Kyiv's military administration posted on the Telegram messaging app. It said that the information on the full scale of the attack will be released later on Sunday.
"The UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) were flying in different directions towards Kyiv," said Serhiy Popko, the head of Kyiv's military administration. "The air raid alert in the city lasted for more than three hours."
Reuters witnesses heard explosions in Kyiv in what sounded like air defense units in operation.
There was no immediate comment from Russia about the attack.