Arrest of Abdolmalek Rigi

Abdolmalek Rigi

Abdolmalek Rigi (Persian: عبدالمالک ریگی‎‎) was the leader of Jundallah, an militant group based in the Sistan and Baluchestan Province, Iran.

Arrest operation

There are two conflicting versions of Rigi's arrest. According to the Iranian government, after visiting United States military base in Afghanistan on 23 February 2010, Rigi with forged Afghan passport, was passenger of the flight which traveled from Dubai to Kyrgyzstan. When the plane arrived to Persian Gulf, Iranian fighter jets interrupted its way that confirmed by Bishkek airport. The Iranian jets told to land in Iranian territory and added that "a number of foreign passengers were forcibly removed." Therefore, the plane landed in the Bandar Abbas International Airport and all passengers took dawn. After that Iranian forces identified Rigi and arrested him. Other people got on the plane and Iran government gave a gift to the passengers for apologizing the delay. After arresting, Iranian TV showed Rigi with hands tied being escorted by four masked Iranian commandos. Also, Fars News Agency broadcast video of Rigi's arrest.

According to a former U.S. intelligence officer, on the other hand, Rigi was captured by Pakistani officials and delivered to Iran with U.S. support: "It doesn't matter what they say. They know the truth."

In the popular media

Jazeera Satellite Channel announced Rigi was arrested in Pakistan while Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar, interior minister, said: "Abdolmalek Rigi was arrested outside Iran while he was traveling somewhere and was transferred to Iran." He said to Press TV that Rigi was arrested Tuesday on a flight from Dubai to Kyrgyzstan. Also, Najjar mentioned this capture show intelligence supremacy of Iran's Ministry of Intelligence.

According to PBS, an informed source claimed Rigi was arrested by Pakistani intelligence agency while Moslehi announced no other intelligence service helped in arresting operation and Iranian intelligence forces had tracked his movements for five months and then arrested him. Pakistan declared it had been co-operating with Iran in arresting Jundullah members but did not specifically mention Rigi.

Al-Alam announced Rigi had been arrested along with three members of Jundullah group.

Al Arabiya television depicted this arrest as a serious blow for the Jundullah group.

An affiliated website to Jundollah claimed Rigi was arrested by was arrested by the intelligence services of the United States, Pakistan and Afghanistan and then moved to Iran. This website wants to show that Iran is very weak for managing Rigi's arresting.

Rigi's post-arrest statements

In post-arrest statements, Rigi "confessed" that the United States promised to provide military equipment and military base near borders of Iran. Iranian state television broadcast Rigi's declarations about American support to the Jundullah group. He stated that: "the Americans said Iran was going its own way and they said our problem at the present is Iran not Al-Qaeda and not the Taliban, but the main problem is Iran. We don't have a military plan against Iran. Attacking Iran is very difficult for us (the U.S.). They (Americans) promised to help us (Jundullah) and they said that they would co-operate with us, free our prisoners and would give us military equipment, bombs, machine guns, and they would give us a base." He declared that he had had a meeting with a senior person at Manas United States military base in Kyrgyzstan when he was captured.

Rigi's "confession" of American support was likely coerced.

Iran

After Rigi's arrest, Iranian officials declared the capture as a victory over America, Israel, and Britain which had supported him and his terrorist group. Heydar Moslehi, intelligence minister of Iran, stated that "we have clear documents proving that Rigi was in co-operation with American, Israeli and British intelligence services." Also, he added that Rigi had been in a United States military base 24 hours before his arrest. Mohammad-Hassan Aboutorabi Fard, Iran's deputy Parliament speaker, said: "the arrest showed that Iran has great power to cut off the hands of criminals and defuse plots of the arrogant powers as well as those made by the U.S. and its mercenaries."

United States

After Rigi's arrest, United States officials rejected connections with Regi and his group.

Britain

The British government said: "Abdolmalek Rigi is a terrorist responsible for despicable attacks which have killed many innocent Iranians. The United Kingdom has always condemned such actions."