Three Arrested on Charges of Murdering Two Sunni Seminary Students; Murder Motive Announced as ‘Personal Disputes’
Heydar Asiyabi, chief justice of Golestan Province, announced on Tuesday, the sixth of Ordibehesht, that three individuals have been arrested on charges of killing two Sunni seminary students in Gonbad Kavus, and “four military weapons” were discovered from the residence of one of the suspects who fired at these two seminary students.
He identified the arrested individuals as “Sunni” and stated that the motive for these killings was “personal disputes” and that “the killings had no external motivation or connection to terrorist groups”.
The killing of two Sunni seminary students named “Gol Mohammad Akhond Pejman” and “Abdur Rahman Akhond Khojeh” occurred on the evening of the 13th of Farvardin, and three days later, an individual identified as Sunni and of Uzbek descent killed two Shiite clerics with a knife in the courtyard of Imam Hadi of Shiites in Mashhad, and the sequence of these two events sparked some speculation.
Nevertheless, Golestan Province officials, following the killing of the two Sunni seminary students, emphasized the “personal motive” and rejected other speculation, including the “ethnic” nature of the matter.
Regarding the killing of two seminary students in Mashhad named Mohammad Aslani and Mohsen Pakdaman, the killer who was arrested at the crime scene was identified as “Abdollatif Moradi, 21 years old and of Uzbek descent,” who “illegally entered Iran from the Pakistani border one year ago” and had been living in Mashhad.
In official reports, the two killed seminary students were identified as “jihadi students,” and Rohollah Harizavi, deputy director of the Islamic Propagation Organization, stated that these seminary students were “distributing services” on the outskirts of Mashhad due to the “extreme deprivation” that exists there.
In recent years, the outskirts of Mashhad have witnessed extensive migration of Sunni people from southern and southeastern provinces of Iran, and the Iranian government had conducted detailed planning under the title of jihadi programs and poverty alleviation programs to counter the expansion and penetration of Sunnis on the outskirts of Mashhad.
One day after that incident, Ibrahim Raisi ordered the Ministry of Intelligence to pursue the Mashhad killings, but to date the Ministry of Intelligence has not issued a report on this matter.
On the other hand, although in the case of the killing of two Sunni seminary students in Gonbad Kavus, local officials emphasize that external factors played no role in the killings and only personal motive is mentioned, regarding the Mashhad killings, Iranian government officials, including Ibrahim Raisi, have emphasized that “this incident was certainly carried out by one of the misguided elements influenced by American takfiri groups”.
The President of the Islamic Republic of Iran has not clarified which group he means by “American takfiri groups,” but attributing such incidents to foreign countries including America and Saudi Arabia is among the fixed agendas of Iranian government officials.
Source: Radio Farda
