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Iran Focus  Tehran, Iran, Oct. 28 – Iranian authorities have hanged two men in the restive province of Sistan-va-Baluchistan, south-east Iran, state media reported.
Authorities hanged the men, identified only by their initials A. M. and Kh. N., in a prison in the provincial capital Zahedan on Monday, the government-run news agency Fars reported. The report said that both men had been convicted of drug smuggling. Iranian authorities routinely execute dissidents on bogus charges such as armed robbery and drug trafficking. Sistan-va-Baluchistan Province is home to Baluchis, a predominantly Sunni Muslim ethnic minority. Iran has witnessed escalating unrest since 2006 in areas populated by Baluchis, who complain of discriminatory and repressive policies by the theocratic regime. Since 2006, Iranian authorities have stepped up executions in the restive province in what many Baluchis believe is a response to a spate of attacks by dissidents on government and security officials. |
