August 06, 2008	Wednesday	Sha’aban 3, 1429

TEHRAN, Aug 5: An Iranian journalist convicted and sentenced to death on terrorism charges has been executed, the country’s judiciary said on Tuesday.

Yaghoob Mirnehad was executed on Monday in the city of Zahedan after being sentenced to death earlier this year, said judiciary spokesman Ali Reza Jamshidi.

Iran accused Mirnehad of being involved in the armed Jundallah group, which operates along the Iranian-Pakistani border. Authorities said he set up a group to “cooperate” with Jundallah.

Mirnehad was a reporter for a Tehran-based daily newspaper, Mardomsalari. He also ran a charity that focussed on childhood education. He was arrested in May 2007 in Zahedan, the provincial capital of the Sistan-Baluchestan province.

Jamshidi said Mirnehad’s conviction was not related to his job, but he gave no other details.

State-run Press TV reported on its website that another alleged member of Jundallah had been executed with Mirnehad.

The report quoted the head of the government’s Justice Office in the province, Ebrahim Hamidi, as saying that “two members of the terrorist group were executed” and identified them as Mirnehad and Abdolnasser Taheri.

No details about Taheri were known.—AP