Iran: Court sentences 2 to death over shrine attack that killed 15 in October
An Iranian court has handed out death sentences to two men over an attack on a Shia shrine in Iran that killed 15 people in October and was claimed by the militant group ISIS, the official news agency IRNA reported on Saturday.
Fars Province Prosecutor Kazem Mousavi said the two men had been found guilty of charges including “spreading corruption on earth” and acting against national security, IRNA reported, adding that the sentences can be appealed.
CCTV footage broadcast on state TV showed the attacker entering the popular Shah Cheragh shrine in the southern city of Shiraz after hiding an assault rifle in a bag and shooting as worshipers tried to flee and hide in corridors.
The gunman, identified as a citizen of Tajikistan, later died in a hospital from injuries sustained during the attack.
The two men sentenced to death said during the trial that they had been in contact with ISIS in neighboring Afghanistan and helped organize the attack, Iranian media reported.
Three other men received jail sentences ranging from five to 25 years in the trial, the prosecutor said.
ISIS, which once posed a security threat across the Middle East, has claimed previous violence in Iran, including deadly twin attacks in 2017 that targeted parliament and the tomb of the Islamic Republic’s founder, Ruhollah Khomeini.
