Iran has arrested 88 people, including 30 Afghans, over deadly unrest that has shaken the south-eastern city of Zahedan ahead of the presidential election, the ISNA news agency reported on Sunday. "Fifty-eight Iranians have been arrested on charges of participating in unrest, arson, home robbery and assault after the recent incidents in Zahedan," city prosecutor Mohammad Marzieh said.
He said another "30 Afghans who took advantage of the situation and participated in the unrest... were also arrested." In the deadliest violence to strike Zahedan, 25 people were killed in the bombing of a Shia mosque on May 28 that was claimed by shadowy Sunni rebel group Jundallah.
Another 10 people were killed in sectarian unrest that followed the mosque attack, including an arson attack on a bank building on June 1 for which Marzieh said three people had been arrested. "If it is proven that these people have burned the institution, they will be charged as Mohareb (enemy of God)," Marzieh said. The crime is punishable by hanging according to Iran's Islamic law.
Iran has already hanged five people over the unrest, three of whom were accused of involvement in the mosque bombing, the deadliest such attack in years. Zahedan is the capital of Sistan-Baluchestan province which borders Afghanistan and Pakistan and has a large ethnic Baluch population that, unlike the majority of Iranians, follows the Sunni branch of Islam.
The violence came ahead of the June 12 presidential election, in which incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad faces challenge from three rivals.
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