Iran executes member of Sufi minority and a baby killer

Iran today executed two men convicted of homicide, one a member of the Sufi minority found guilty of killing policemen and another for murdering a baby girl, officials said.

The men were hanged to death despite outcries from human rights organisations.

Mohammad Reza Salas was sentenced to death in March for driving a bus into a group of police officers during February clashes with security forces, killing three policemen.

Salas belongs to the minority Sufi sect, a mystic branch of Islam tolerated in Iran but perceived as a "deviation" by many conservatives members of the Shiite community.

Mizan Online, the judiciary's news agency, said the death sentence against Salas "was implemented Monday morning".

Rights groups had denounced the death sentence and called on authorities to revoke it.

"This case has laid bare the flaws in Iran's criminal justice system for all to see," London-based Amnesty International said yesterday.

It said that Salas, who was born in 1967, was forced to testify under duress and had received an "unfair trial".

Two members of the Basij, an Islamic militia tasked with a number of policing duties, were also killed in the clashes.

The unrest erupted as members of Iran's Gonabadi Sufi order, known as dervishes, protested the arrest of members of the sect and a rumour that their leader would soon be detained.

At his trial, Salas repeatedly said he never intended on killing anyone, but gave contradictory statements on the circumstances that led to the death of the three policemen, according to Iranian media.

Also today, Mohammad Vefaie was executed for the killing of an eight-month-old baby girl named Benita in July 2017, official IRNA news agency said. Vefaie had stolen a car belonging to Benita's father while the child was sitting in the vehicle.

He later abandoned the car, leaving the baby trapped inside for several hours in scorching summer heat until she was found dead by police.

Iran does not publish official statistics on the number of people it has executed.

According to an April report by Amnesty International, China is the world's "top executioner" but Iran had the highest known figure in 2017 with at least 507 people put to death, six of them women.