Tehran, Iran (Washington Insider Magazine) – Iran’s foreign ministry summoned Sweden’s envoy to voice its displeasure over the “illegal” detention and prosecution of an ex official convicted of human rights violations in 1988.
According to state-run IRNA, Sweden’s foreign ministry informed Stockholm’s newly-appointed ambassador, Mattias Lentz, that Swedish prosecution had lodged unsubstantiated and manufactured charges against the officer, Hamid Nouri, and Iran.
The Mojahedin-e-Khalq (MEK), an opposition group that Iran deems a terrorist group owing to a series of bombings and shootings in the 1980s and strikes on Iranian land during the Iraq-Iran War with assistance from then Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, impacted Nouri’s sentencing, according to the outlet.
The Iranian foreign ministry also demanded that the “political show” before Sweden’s judiciary be put to an end, and that Nouri be released immediately.
According to Al Jazeera, the action comes just days after Swedish authorities requested that Nouri be sentenced to life in jail, the maximum penalty, at his 89th court session.
After Swedish officials used the concept of “universal jurisdiction,” Nouri was detained in 2019 upon arriving at Stockholm airport, and his prosecution started in August 2021.
The 61-year-old was a deputy lawyer at Gohardasht Prison outside Tehran in 1988, when political detainees, most of them MEK militants, are believed to have been convicted and executed, according to prosecutors. They said he was “actively engaged” in the alleged human rights violations.
Iranian authorities and Nouri have categorically denied the allegations, calling them absolutely false.
Nouri has been locked in solitary confinement for over 2 years, according to his family, who released a statement on Sunday. They also stated that they had been ignorant of his location for some time after his detention, and that despite numerous attempts, they were prevented from visiting him since his incarceration.
Following recent events, Sweden’s and Iran’s foreign ministries have cautioned their citizens to avoid making needless visits to the other nation.
The Iranian foreign ministry has summoned a Swedish ambassador for the second time this month. The charge d’affaires of the Swedish embassy was called last month after copies of the Quran were torched by Swedish far right organisations during Ramadan, the Muslim holy month.
Image via Al Jazeera