AFP: A court in southwestern Iran handed down 10 death sentences Tuesday over a wave of ethnic unrest in the key oil province of Khuzestan, the state broadcaster’s website reported. TEHRAN, July 25, 2006 (AFP) – A court in southwestern Iran handed down 10 death sentences Tuesday over a wave of ethnic unrest in the key oil province of Khuzestan, the state broadcaster’s website reported.
“Ten people have been sentenced to be publicly hanged for the bomb attacks in (the provincial capital) Ahvaz for making war against God and acting against national security,” the website said.
On January 24, eight people were killed and 24 wounded in two blasts in Ahvaz, where President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had been due to make a visit which was cancelled at the last minute.
Khuzestan is home to a large community of ethnic minority Arabs and has been plagued by a wave of unrest over the past year.
Regime officials had put the blame on Britain and its troops based just across the border in southern Iraq. London denied the allegations.
