Iranian media reports said yesterday that an Iranian court has delivered a verdict against the main convict indicted for the August attack on the Shah Cheragh holy shrine in Iran’s southern province of Fars.
IRNA reports that the main convict was sentenced to death after three court sessions under the accusations of taking measures against national security and cooperating with the terrorist group of Daesh (ISIS), the head of the justice department of Fars Kazem Mousavi announced on Thursday.
As the judicial official noted, the accused is identified as Rahmatullo Navrouzov from Tajikistan.
He was convicted on charges of waging war against God, as well as "sedition and collusion against the security of the country."
Mehr News Agency (MNA) reports that in a related development, the punishment for Navrouzov’s two accomplices was read as five years imprisonment. It was also noted that they will be expelled from Iran.
The Shah Cheragh mausoleum is home to the tomb of Ahmad, brother of Imam Reza — the eighth Shiite imam — and is considered the holiest site in southern Iran.
Meanwhile, the Associated Press (AP) reports that an Iranian court has given two death sentences to Navrouzov.
The website Mizan Online reportedly said the Iranian Revolutionary Court in Fars province gave Rahmatullo Navrouzov two death sentences because of the seriousness of the crime at the Shah Cheragh mosque.
Recall, Navrouzov, nicknamed Salman Aslamyar, on August 13 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 (the Arabic acronym for ISIS) 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 Turkiye, 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.
The August 13 attack on the Shah Cheragh mausoleum came less than a year after a mass shooting at the same site that was later claimed by the Daesh.
The previous attack 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.
