Monday, July 13, 2009 TEHRAN: Fourteen Sunni rebels from the shadowy group Jundallah are to be hanged in public early on Tuesday in the restive city of Zahedan in southeast Iran, the official news agency said on Monday.The condemned rebels include Abdolhamid Rigi, a brother of Jundallah (Soldiers of God) leader Abdolmalik Rigi.The local judiciary of Zahedan, the capital of Sistan-Baluchestan province bordering Afghanistan and Pakistan, has invited residents of the city to attend the executions due to be carried out at 6:30 am (0200 GMT), it added.Iran accuses Jundallah of launching regular attacks in Sistan-Baluchestan province, which is home to a sizeable Baluch minority of Sunni Muslims. The group strongly opposes the government of predominantly Shiite Iran.
BEIRUT: Thousands of people converged Saturday on central Beirut to mark the fourth anniversary of the assassination of Lebanese former premier Rafiq Hariri.Waving Lebanese flags and carrying pictures of the slain leader, men, women and children gathered under sunny skies in Martyr's Square where members of the parliamentary majority were to address the crowd. The rally comes as final preparations are underway in The Hague for the launch of the international tribunal set up to bring Hariri's killers to justice. It also comes as the country prepares for legislative elections in June that will pit Western-backed political parties against a Hezbollah-led alliance backed by Syria and Iran.Hariri died in a massive car bombing on February 14, 2005 that also killed 22 others. The assassination was widely blamed on then Lebanese power-broker Syria, which has denied any involvement. The attack on the Beirut seafront was one of the worst acts of political violence to rock Lebanon since t...
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