He is the leader of Jundallah, which can be translated as "Soldiers of God" - an armed group in southeastern Iran that is responsible for some of the bloodiest attacks on Iranian security forces in the past five years.
Almost everything connected with this man is mysterious - including his taped confession, which was broadcast on Iranian television, and his claims that he is working with the CIA.
Inflicting Damage
Jundallah was formed about seven years ago in the southeastern Iranian province of Sistan-Baluchistan, on the border with Pakistan. Many of Iran's minority Sunni Muslims live there, and Rigi and Jundallah claimed to be fighting against the discrimination that Sunnis suffer in predominantly Shiite Iran.
Jundallah may have as many as 1,000 militants. The group's first major action came five years ago in an attack on a motorcade carrying then-newly elected President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
There have been many attacks since, including a bombing last October that left 42 dead, including five senior commanders of Iran's Revolutionary Guard.
The group has beheaded some of its victims. And the violence is not confined to Iranian officials, says Muhammad Sahimi, who writes for the Web site Tehran Bureau.
"Many people, not just security and police people, but also common people that were going by daily lives have been killed," Sahimi says. "So the damage that they have been inflicting on the Iranian side has been quite substantial."
With Rigi under arrest, it is not clear whether Jundallah will continue its attacks.
CIA Claims
There are conflicting accounts of Rigi's Feb. 23 arrest by Iranian authorities.
Iranian television claimed he was traveling on a commercial flight from Dubai to the Central Asian state of Kyrgyzstan to meet with a senior American official. The Iranian government says it forced the plane to land on Iranian territory.
Most analysts do not find this story credible. Instead, it is believed that Pakistan's intelligence service handed Rigi over to Iran. Rigi used Pakistan as a base to stage his attacks against Iran.
Soon after the arrest, Rigi appeared on Iranian television and claimed he had a relationship with the CIA that continued after President Obama took office. He said the Americans offered him military equipment and a base near Iran.
Rigi seemed to be speaking off the cuff and did not appear to be reading a formal confession.
His emphasis was on the claim that the United States and the CIA had come to rely on him and Jundallah operating from Pakistan to keep the pressure on Iran's government because it was not possible for the U.S. to take military action against Iran.
"The CIA is very particular about me and is prepared to do anything because our government has reached the conclusion that there is nothing that the Americans could do about Iran," he said. "Only I could take care of their operations for them."
Asked about Rigi's confession, a spokesperson for the CIA said claims coming out of Iran on this are nonsense.
A Propaganda Line?
Still, some analysts who follow events in Iran closely find some of Rigi's claims credible.
"There is very credible evidence that Jundallah has been supported by foreign intelligence agencies, including the CIA and perhaps Saudi Arabia," Sahimi says.
But while Rigi's claim is that American support continued after Obama took office, Nader Hashemi, an Iran analyst at the University of Denver, believes that is the propaganda line the government in Tehran wants Iran's public to believe.
The government wants to portray Iran as "under attack from external powers," Hashemi says, and demonstrate that the Obama administration is "not genuine in asking for a dialogue with Iran because it is still trying to subvert the regime by supporting terrorist elements from abroad."
"The regime has taken maximum advantage of this opportunity to really deflect attention from the big crisis that it is facing, and that is the crisis from within Iranian society in terms of the struggle for democracy," Hashemi says.
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I personally think second account is correct. Even Pakistan's NIC was found with Rigi. He has an association with Pakistan Inter-service intelligence agency.So they may have handed him over. But it is my personal belief.
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