Iran sentences 2 to death for Shiraz ‘terror’ attack

Mourners take part in a funeral for victims of a mass shooting at a key shrine earlier in the week that killed more than a dozen worshippers, in Iran's southern city of Shiraz, on Oct 29, 2022. The extremist Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the October 26 attack on the Shiite shrine of Shah Cherah in the southern city of Shiraz. (PHOTO / ISNA NEWS AGENCY / AFP)

TEHRAN – Iran sentenced two people to death for involvement in a deadly "terrorist" attack on a religious shrine in the southern city of Shiraz last October, Mizan news agency of the Iranian judiciary reported Saturday.

The two people were found to be directly involved in "arming, backing up and directing" main perpetrators, and have links with the Islamic State militant group which claimed responsibility for the attack, Kazem Mousavi, head of the Department of Justice in the southern province of Fars, was quoted by Mizan as saying.

The two were convicted on charges of "mutiny, acting against national security and corruption on earth," said Mousavi, adding three others involved in the attacks were sentenced to heavy imprisonment

They were convicted on charges of "mutiny, acting against national security and corruption on earth," said Mousavi, adding three others involved in the attacks were sentenced to heavy imprisonment.

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All the rulings can be appealed at the Iranian supreme court, he noted.

"Corruption on earth" is a criminal charge in Iran referring to a range of offenses including those against Islamic codes and punishable by death.

A total of 13 worshippers, including a woman and two children, were killed, and 30 others were injured in a shooting rampage carried out by a heavily-armed "terrorist" at the Shah Cheragh shrine in Shiraz on Oct 26, 2022.

The assailant, who was wounded and arrested by security forces, later succumbed to his wounds in hospital, local media reported at the time, citing security sources.

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Following the attack, the Iranian Intelligence Ministry announced in a statement that it had arrested seven other people linked to the "act of terror."