A Sunni cleric in Iran's southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan was kidnapped and killed, the authorities said Friday - the latest deadly incident in a region rocked by unrest.
The province -- one of Iran's poorest -- is home to the ethnic Baluch minority and had been the site of often deadly violence even before nationwide protests erupted in September over the death in custody of 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini.
Maulvi Abdulwahid Rigi, Imam of Imam Hussain mosque in Khash in Baluchistan, was kidnapped and killed by unknown people. He criticized the killing of protesters by regime forces. It seems that IRGC tries to denounce maulvi Abdulhamid the Baluch leader and relate the crime to him
— Afshin Ismaeli (@Afshin_Ismaeli) December 9, 2022
"Abdulwahed Rigi... was kidnapped Thursday by unknown assailants and died a martyr's death" near the city of Khash, the provincial security council said in a statement.
"An investigation has been opened" into the killing, it added.
Rigi, who led prayers at the Imam Hossein Mosque in Khash, "was one of the main religious leaders in Sistan-Baluchistan," the security council said.
"Mevlana #Abdulwahid_Rigi'nin cesedi Shuro'da Khash civarında polisin yanında bulundu. İran halk devrimi ile dayanışma ilan eden Javednam Mevlana Abdulvahid Rigi, dün Devrim Muhafızları istihbaratı çeteleri tarafından tutuklanarak öldürüldü."#MahsaAminipic.twitter.com/aIlnM6REqy https://t.co/qjHp0WHKki
— Dîlber Canan (@DilberCanan1) December 9, 2022
Rigi's body was found on the side of a road outside Khash, Fars news agency reported, saying he had been shot three times in the head.
The provincial prosecutor's office told Fars that Rigi had been at his mosque on Thursday when the assailants called him through the back door.
They then abducted him and forced him into a Peugeot car without a licence plate, the report added.
The city's police chief, Habib Razdar, meanwhile said officers received a call to report a body had been found at a junction between Khash and the provincial capital Zahedan, according to the state news agency IRNA.
The police identified the body as belonging to Rigi, the officer added.
An expert on religious minorities described Rigi on state television as "a moderate figure", contrasting him with another leading Sunni cleric in the province, Molavi Abdol Hamid, known for his criticism of Iran's authorities.
The Islamic republic has been gripped by demonstrations since the September 16 death of Amini, after her arrest by the morality police in Tehran for allegedly violating the country's strict dress code for women.
Iran's top security body, the Supreme National Security Council, said on December 3 that more than 200 people have been killed in the unrest.
Oslo-based non-governmental organisation Iran Human Rights said on Wednesday that Iran's security forces had killed at least 458 people, including at least 128 in Sistan-Baluchistan.
The province's Baluchi minority, who adhere to Sunni Islam rather than the Shiite branch predominant in Iran, have long complained of discrimination.
(AFP)
