Swedish court upholds life sentence given to ex-Iranian official

An appeals court in Sweden has upheld a life sentence given to a former Iranian official despite repeated objections from Tehran that the verdict is politically-motivated.

The Svea Court of Appeal said in a statement on Tuesday that it “affirmed the judgment... in significant parts” that had been given to Hamid Nouri in July 2022.

It described the case brought against Nouri in the initial court proceedings as “robust” and “correct.”

The verdict comes four years after Nouri was illegally arrested at a Stockholm airport based on complaints filed by anti-Iranian terrorist groups in Sweden for his so-called role in the death of prisoners in Iran in the 1980s.

Nouri and his defense team have vehemently rejected the charges while the Iranian authorities have repeatedly said that the case has been based on political motives.

The illegal arrest and sentencing of Nouri has also affected political relations between Iran and Sweden while it has stirred anti-Sweden sentiment in Iran.

Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) said in a Tuesday report that Nouri has repeatedly been subject to harassment and rights violations during his imprisonment in Sweden since November 2019.

Iranian Judiciary Spokesman Masoud Setayeshi said in September that the case against Nouri was directly influenced by political campaigns and media propaganda of the Mujahedin-e-Khalq Organization (MKO), a group designated as terrorist by Iran for its role in killing thousands of Iranian citizens over the past decades.

Setayeshi also said that the way Nouri has been deprived of his basic rights as an accused in the Swedish legal system is a disgrace for the Nordic country as well as for Western human rights organizations.

SS