Iran hangs 17 rebels accused of 'enmity against God'

The Iranian authorities on Saturday hanged 16 "rebels" following overnight clashes in which 14 border guards were killed on the frontier with Pakistan. "Sixteen rebels linked to groups hostile to the regime were hanged this morning in the prison of Zahedan in response to the death of border guards in Saravan," Mohammad Marzieh, the attorney general of Sistan-Baluchestan province, was quoted as saying by Fars news agency.
"We warned the rebel groups that any attack targeting civilians or members of the security forces would not go unanswered," he added.
The official IRNA news agency, quoting what it called an informed source, said the clashes in which the border guards were killed occurred in a mountainous region used by both drug traffickers and armed rebels.
Deputy Interior Minister Ali Abdollahi said that the guards had been killed during the ambush set by Iranians who were "members of hostile groups". He added that "three soldiers have been taken hostage and taken to the other side of the border in Pakistan".According to several news websites run by the Iranian authorities 16 prisoners convicted of Moharebeh (enmity against God) and "terrorism". According to "Afkarnews" another state run news website, the prisoners were members of "Jeish Al-Adl". They are beleived to belong to be Sunni Muslims of Baluchi ethnicity. None of the prisoners were identified by name.
There are also unofficial reports regarding execution of the Kurdish political prisoner "Habibollah Golparipour".
According to these reports Golparipour was hanged early this morning. Iran Human Rights (IHR) had yesterday received reports about the transfer of Mr. Golparipourfrom the Urmia Prison to an unknown location. On March 15, 2009, Habibollah Golparipour was sentenced to death by branch 1 of the Mahabad Revolutionary Court (in the Western Azerbaijan province) in a trial that lasted a few minutes. He was sentenced to death charged with "Enmity against the God" and membership in a Kurdish dissident group". According to Iran Humjan Rights at least four other Kurdish activiststs are in imminent danger of being executed.
At the other hand, Alireza M, the 37 year old man who survived a hanging will not be executed again.
According to the official Iranian news agency IRNA, Iran’s justice minister Mostafa Pourmohammadi said in a press conference that executing the man who has already survived a hanging is ill-advised. Also the head of Iran’s judiciary, Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani, said the man could be spared on humanitarian grounds, reported the state run news agency ISNA. Alireza M., father of two girls, who was sentenced to death convicted of drug trafficking was hanged on October 9, was discovered to be alive 24 hours after his execution was carried out and Iranian authorities declared him dead. At that time the judges has said that Alireza will be executed again once his condition improves. This led to strong reactions inside and outside Iran.