Iran hangs Jundallah leader Abdolmalek Rigi

The leader of Jundallah group has been executed in Iran for his involvement in terrorist attacks in the Islamic state, state media report. Abdolmalek Rigi, head of Jundullah, was hanged at dawn at Tehran's Evin prison in the presence of the families of its victims, the Irna news agency said. Mr Rigi was accused of being behind a series of deadly bombings and raids in the province of Sistan-Baluchistan. He was arrested in February while on a flight from Dubai to the US base in Kyrgyzstan. Four months after being captured by Iranian security forces when he was flying over the Persian Gulf en route to Kyrgyzstan, Mr Rigi was hanged on Sunday morning in accordance with a decision by the Tehran Revolutionary Court. Jundallah was "responsible for the killing of 154 members of security forces and other innocent people and wounding of 320 people since 2003" and was "linked to members of foreign intelligence services", it added. Mr Rigi had allegedly pleaded guilty to forming the "terrorist group Jundallah which was fighting the Islamic republic" and a number of other charges. "He collaborated and ordered 15 armed abductions, confessed to three murders, and ordered the murders of tens of citizens, police and military personnel through bombings and armed actions," the court statement added.