A Swedish-Iranian dissident was sentenced to death by Iran’s judiciary on Sunday for “terrorism,” a decision Stockholm criticized as “inhumane”.
Habib Chaab has been detained in Iran since October 2020 after going missing while visiting Turkey and being tried in Tehran, where the dual citizenship of its citizens is not recognized.
Chaab was given the death penalty on December 6 after being found guilty of “corruption on earth” for leading a rebel group……Continue Reading
On Sunday, the Iranian Supreme Court was reported to have affirmed the decision by the judiciary’s Mizan Online website
The Supreme Court accepted Habib Farajollah Chaab’s death sentence after finding him guilty of corruption on earth, according to a Mizan article.
Tobias Billstrom, the foreign minister of Sweden, stated that the country’s diplomats in Tehran and the Swedish government “are working intensely to acquire further clarity” on Chaab’s issue.
In an email to AFP, Billstrom stated: “The death sentence is an inhumane and irreversible punishment and Sweden, along with the rest of the EU, condemns its application in any circumstances.
Mizan said Chaab had been convicted for “the founding, management and leadership of a rebel organisation called Harakat al-Nidal, and the design and execution of multiple terrorist activities in Khuzestan province”.
Iran has charged Harakat al-Nidal with “cooperation with other terrorist groups,” including the attack on a military parade in Ahvaz, the capital of the Khuzestan province, in 2018 that left 25 people dead and almost 250 injured, according to the authorities.
Chaab is the most recent person to get a death sentence for belonging to what Iran regards as a “terrorist group,” Harakat al-Nidal, or the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahvaz.
According to Iranian authorities, the group’s primary goal was “the breakup of the Iranian province of Khuzestan,” located in the southwest of the nation.
Other Harakat al-Nidal officials, according to the prosecution, are stationed in Denmark, the Netherlands, and Sweden, and Saudi Arabia provides the organization with financial and logistical support.
According to Mizan’s report from last week, six members of the organization were found guilty of attacking on “the directions of their European commanders” and had received death sentences in Ahvaz.
According to the investigation, they had been held responsible for “armed actions” between 2017 and 2019 that resulted in the deaths of four persons, including a soldier and two Basij paramilitary fighters from Iran.
In a video that was shown on Iranian state media, Chaab claimed responsibility for the 2018 military parade attack and acknowledged cooperating with Saudi intelligence.
Oil-rich A sizable Arab minority is in Khuzestan, and its residents have long grumbled about being ignored.
According to rights organizations like Amnesty International, Iran executes more people each year than any other country outside China.
The judiciary reports that since the beginning of the year, three dual citizens, including Chaab, have received death sentences or have been put to death for reasons connected to security.
The already difficult relations between London and Tehran came under additional strain in January when the judiciary hanged Alireza Akbari, a former Iranian official with British citizenship who had been found guilty of spying.
German-Iranian Jamshid Sharmahd, 67, was given the death penalty by the Tehran Revolutionary Court in February for his involvement in a deadly mosque attack in 2008.
The Supreme Court has not yet confirmed Sharmahd’s sentence.
At least 16 Westerners with passports, many of whom are dual nationals, are being held captive in Iran.
Tehran maintains that everyone has gone through a fair legal process.
