Iran’s Mehr News Agency (MNA) reported on September 10 that Iran has held the first trial session for the three perpetrators of last month’s deadly terrorist attack on the Shah Cheragh shrine in the southern Iranian city of Shiraz.
MNA notes that during the hearing on Sunday, the representative of Fars Province’s General and Revolutionary, prosecutor accused the prime suspect, Rahmatullo Navrouzov from Tajikistan, of waging war on God, corruption on earth, and membership in the Daesh (the Arabic acronym for ISIS) terrorist group with the intention of acting against Iran’s security.
He reportedly also accused the two other suspects of abetting the commission of the aforesaid crimes, calling for a severe punishment.
On August 13, Navrouzov, nicknamed Salman Aslamyar, went on a shooting spree in the Shah Cheragh shrine, killing two and injuring seven people. MNA says he carried an assault rifle and eight magazines with 240 bullets, 11 of which he managed to get off before being arrested.
The Daesh terrorist group claimed responsibility for the terrorist assault.
Speaking during the trial, Navrouzov said that he had joined Daesh through a foreign messaging application and was recommended to travel to Turkey.
The terrorist added that from Turkey, he had illegally entered Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, saying the latter was the place where he received military training.
He said that after re-entry to Iran, he had lived for almost a month at a home near Shah Cheragh shrine, reconnected with Daesh, and took delivery of weapons.
“I did not count the number of the people targeted, but I intended to continue the operation until the last bullet in the magazine,” the terrorist further said.
He said that he had been ordered to get two containers of gasoline, however, he had entered the holy shrine with one gasoline container in his backpack and was arrested before he could torch the carpets where the worshipers were.
Recall, the chairman of the Fars regional court Kazem Mousavi told the Iranian Fars News Agency (FNA) in August that the perpetrator of the terrorist attack at the Shah Cheragh Mosque in the city of Shiraz is a citizen of Tajikistan.
"At the moment, eight people have been arrested, suspected of involvement in a terrorist act in the Shah-Cheragh mausoleum," FNA quoted him as saying.
Mousavi noted that all of them are foreigners.
"The main terrorist introduced himself as Rakhmatulla Nuruzov (Rahmatullo Navrouzov), he is a citizen of Tajikistan," the chairman of the Fars provincial court added.
According to the governor of the province Mohammad Hadi Imani, the motive was revenge for the terrorists executed in July who committed a similar terrorist attack in October
Iranian media reported last month that two terrorists attacked the Shah Cheragh mosque, as a result of which one person was killed and eight others were injured. According to FNA, the banned terrorist group "Islamic State" claimed responsibility for the attack.
According to the Tasnim news agency, one of the attackers was shot dead by law enforcement forces, the second was captured two hours after the incident. His photo was distributed on social networks and the media.
This was the second terrorist attack in the Iranian Shah-Cheragh mosque. The previous one was committed at the end of October 2022: five unknown people opened fire on the territory of the mausoleum. One of the terrorists was caught on the night of the attack. Later, Iranian media reported that the attackers were not Iranian citizens. As a result of that terrorist attack, according to media reports, 13 people were killed and 45 others were injured. In July, Tasnim reported on the execution of the death sentence of two participants in a terrorist act. At that time, Komron Subhon, a 23-year-old native of Tajikistan, reportedly fired shots at the holy shrine in Shah Cheragh.
