More and more points point to Iran wanting to use imprisoned Swedes as pawns in a political game to bring home the designated executioner Hamid Noury.
As far as is known, Sweden has never carried out a prisoner exchange – but legally there are no obstacles for it to take place.
In the Stockholm district court, the Iranian Hamid Noury was sentenced to life imprisonment for participation in the executions of thousands of political prisoners in an Iranian prison in 1988 – a sentence that the prosecution wants to see established when the Court of Appeal’s verdict is handed down on Tuesday at 2 p.m.
At the same time, there is concern about what the case, called “politically motivated” by Iran, means for the two Swedish citizens who are imprisoned in Tehran on unclear grounds.
Swedish EU official Johan Floderus has been jailed on espionage charges since he was arrested last April after a holiday. According to information to TT, he was arrested as a consequence of the case against Noury.
Risks the death penalty
Since 2016, the doctor Ahmadreza Djalali has also been imprisoned in Iran. Djalali, who has both Iranian and Swedish citizenship, has been sentenced to death for “corruption on earth”.
When the indictment against Johan Floderus became known just over a week ago, it was clear that he too is accused of corruption on earth and risks the death penalty.
The fact that the indictment was made public shortly before the Court of Appeal verdict against Noury is pointed out by observers as Iran trying to put pressure on Sweden.
– It is obvious that Iran ties Hamid Noury’s fate to these two imprisoned Swedish citizens, says Maja Åberg, expert at Amnesty International.
It is not the first time Iran has acted in this way. Among other things, this summer four foreign citizens were released from Iran after Belgium extradited an Iranian diplomat convicted of terrorism.
– It has been going on for a number of years, where Iran has shown that it sees these people as some kind of chess pieces in a cruel political game, says Maja Åberg.
Two ways legally
Legally, there are two ways for Sweden to go if it were to choose to carry out a prisoner exchange, says Pål Wrange, professor of international law at Stockholm University.
One is that the government frees Noury from punishment by deciding on clemency.
– In that case, he will simply be released, says Wrange.
The other possibility is to decide that the penalty should be enforced in Iran, according to the law on international cooperation regarding the enforcement of criminal judgments.
– Even that requires a government decision, says Wrange, who emphasizes, however, that the primary purpose of the law was not to enable prisoner exchanges.
The big question, however, is whether the government is prepared to enter into an agreement with Iran. Whatever you do, you will receive criticism, he says.
– On the one hand, it is a person who has been convicted of very serious crimes, and in addition, there are many Iranians in Sweden who have an interest in him serving it, including relatives of people who were killed during the massacres. In the second balance there are two apparently innocent people’s lives.
Great concern
Amnesty International does not comment on prisoner exchanges, but Maja Åberg also points to the importance of the Swedish prosecution for the massacres in 1988.
– It has meant so much to the victims and relatives of those who were killed and those who also got away.
At the same time, the signals coming about Djalali and Floderus, both imprisoned in the infamous Evin prison, are worrying, she says.
– Ahmadreza Djalali has a death sentence and he has been sitting for seven years with this sentence hanging over him, and has been told several times that “tomorrow we will execute you”. That even Johan Floderus has such a criminal classification that can lead to the death penalty is extremely worrying.
In May this year, the Swedish-Iranian Habib Chaab was executed in Iran, accused of terrorist crimes.
THE FACTS The Hamid Noury case
The Iranian Hamid Noury was tricked into Sweden and arrested in 2019 at Arlanda. The case against the 62-year-old, sentenced in the district court to life imprisonment for participation in mass executions in Iran in 1988, is one of the largest of its kind in Sweden.
According to the district court judgement, he has, in his capacity as a prosecutor’s assistant, selected prisoners who were to be brought before a committee that decided who would be executed. He has also read out the names of prisoners who were to be executed and escorted them to the execution room where he himself “on some occasions” participated in the executions.
The crime classifications are serious crimes against international law and murder committed in Iran.
During 92 trial days from August 10, 2021 until May 2022, a total of approximately 70 plaintiffs and witnesses from different parts of the world were heard.
The case is based on the Iranian state’s executions of people linked to the People’s Mujahedin political organization, which was then in armed conflict with the Iranian state.
People who were held as political prisoners with no connection to the People’s Mujahedin are therefore counted as witnesses and not plaintiffs – despite the fact that they all testify that they were subjected to similar treatment, equated to torture by the prosecutors.
Hamid Noury denies any wrongdoing.
The Court of Appeal hearing began on January 11 and ended in November. The verdict will be announced on December 19.
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