Sunni Extremists Announce Execution of Kidnapped Iranian Border Guard

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The little-known extremist Sunni Muslim Jaish al-Adl (Army of Justice) group has announced it has executed one of five Iranian border guards it abducted along the Iran-Pakistan border early last month.

The February statement of the group soon after the kidnappings had said, “This victorious operation is in response to the ferocious massacre carried out by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards in the Islamic land of Syria.”

“It is also a response to oppression and crimes this regime commits against the innocent Sunni community in Iran, including the execution of innocent Baloch and fervent Kurds, and warrior youths from Ahvaz who have been hanged by this illegitimate and cruel regime,” it claimed.

This little-known Iranian Sunni group is active in the impoverished Sistan-Balochistan province of Iran, claiming it is fighting to secure the minority and religious rights of Sunnis in southeastern Iran.

The disadvantaged and relatively lawless Sistan-Balochistan province has been a center of rebellion for decades by a disgruntled Sunni Baloch minority in predominantly Shiite Iran. Sunni Baloch Muslims in Iran face widespread political, social and economic discrimination, due to being both an ethnic and religious minority.

Rights groups claim Sunni Baloch prisoners often are convicted in politically-motivated speedy trials, based on “evidence” obtained through torture and forced confessions.

The group has held the border guards hostage for 45 days, and had previously said it would not free them unless 50 Jaish al-Adl members held in Syria and as many members and 200 other Sunni inmates in Iranian prisons, are freed.

Jaish stated it would exchange the body of the executed guard, identified as Jamshid Danayeefar, in exchange for the body of 50 “martyrs” of the path of freedom, but did not mention any of them by name.

The Iranian Interior Ministry could not confirm the report immediately, but Jaish claimed on Twitter on Sunday that it had executed Danayeefar. It also threatened to kill another hostage “if Iran does not free Sunni prisoners.”

The group said it executed the hostage in revenge for one of its own member killed in an Iranian prison. It said Ali Narouee was hanged by Iranian security forces last month, but the Iranian government has announced only that a Jaish member had died of “natural causes,” while his family members claim his body was covered in multiple bruises and showed signs of torture.

The kidnappings have added to the sore tensions between Tehran and Islamabad over sectarian violence, as Iran accuses Pakistan of supporting and harboring the rebels or the least is not doing enough to stop them while the kidnapped guards are held on Pakistani territory. 

Iranian officials say talks are ongoing with Pakistan in order to secure the release of the guards.