Abdolmalek Rigi - Who Is He?

Press TV | February 26, 2010
By Sam K. Parks-Kia

The high-profile arrest of Abdolmalek Rigi by Iranian security forces on a flight from the United Arab Emirates to Kyrgyzstan raised many questions as to who Rigi really is.

Abdolmalek was born in 1979 in the Rigi tribe in the southeastern Iranian Province of Sistan-Baluchestan. He did not go to attend a regular school and received education at a Sunni religious school from which he was expelled not too long after being enrolled in.

He is known to have had a history of violence as a young man and even served time for aggressive misconduct in tribal clashes. Abdolmalek, however, claims that he was a political prisoner and not detained for violence.

In his own words Rigi "took up arms at the age of nineteen," and launched a terror campaign against the establishment of the Islamic Republic.

It is alleged that Rigi tried to convince the Sunni leaders in Sistan-Baluchestan Province — who are commonly known as Mowlavis — to support his cause. However, his calls for armed rebellion were ignored by the Sunni religious leaders.

Failing to gain acknowledgement from the Sunni leaders, Rigi turned to drug traffickers as potential funders for his group.

Smugglers viewed Rigi and his group as a force against the Iranian police and provincial security forces and endorsed Rigi by giving his group arms and financial support.

Abdolmalek has never denied his group's involvement in drug trafficking. "I don't deny that among our tribe, drug smugglers exist. But you need to look for the reason why people smuggle drugs," he was quoted by Fars News Agency as saying.

"We live in a closed economy, where people cannot make a living. There are some 50 thousand to 60 thousand people in Sistan-Baluchestan, who used to make a living through Iran's borders with Pakistan and Afghanistan, which are now closed."

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