After a year, Zahedan prosecutor backtracks; death sentence for rape suspects in Iranshahr
About a year after the issue of the rape of dozens of girls by the Sunni Friday prayer imam in Iranshahr was raised, the Zahedan prosecutor, while withdrawing his doubts about the case, announced the issuance of death sentences for four people in connection with the case.
According to Iranian domestic news agencies, Ali Movahedi Rad, the prosecutor of Zahedan, said on Sunday, June 9, that in the "rape case" in Iranshahr, "the commission of a crime" was proven against three of the plaintiffs.
The Zahedan prosecutor has announced the proof of the crime of kidnapping and rape, even though he had expressed doubts about it last year following the publication of news of several rapes in Iranshahr, saying: "It must be determined whether the rape was consensual or forced."
In June of last year, after "Mawlawi Tayyeb Mollazehi," the Sunni Friday prayer leader of Iranshahr, spoke in his Eid al-Fitr sermons about the rape of several girls in the city, protest rallies were held in the city, and participants demanded an investigation into the issue. It was said that some of the rape victims did not raise the issue or file a complaint due to fear of those around them.
Following the escalation of protests, Iranian judicial authorities criticized the media coverage of the issue, and even Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, the Attorney General of Iran, called the events in Iranshahr a complete lie and fabrication from the very beginning. He even threatened to prosecute the Sunni Friday prayer leader of the city.
Now, the Zahedan prosecutor has announced that the rape case against the three women who filed the complaint has been proven.
Source: Voice of America
