06 July 2024 :

Three Swedish citizens have been sentenced to death in Iraq over their involvement in a shooting and a fourth may also face the same punishment over a separate crime, the Swedish foreign ministry said on July 4, 2024.
The government summoned Iraq's charge d'affaires last month to protest the death sentence against one of the three involved in the shooting.
Sweden does not have the death penalty and opposes its use in all circumstances.
The foreign ministry said it had now received confirmation that two more Swedes have been convicted in relation to the same crime, and received the death penalty.
"The information we have received on the death penalties is extremely serious and we are working to ensure the sentences will not be carried out," the foreign ministry said in an emailed statement.
In June, the Daily Aftonbladet reported that the men had been involved in the shooting of another Swedish citizen in Iraq in January.
The ministry said it had received a report that a fourth Swede was given a death sentence for a different, drug-related crime, but that it could not confirm the information.

03 July 2024 :

Another Swedish citizen has been sentenced to death in Iraq by a court decision, Report News Agency informed on July 2, 2024 referring to the Dagens Nyheter newspaper citing the press service of the Swedish Foreign Ministry.
"The Swedish Embassy in Baghdad, which has now moved to Stockholm, has received confirmation from local authorities that a second Swedish national has been sentenced to death by an Iraqi court of first instance," reads the statement.
The verdict to the first subject became known in June.

18 June 2024 :

Sweden's Foreign Ministry said officials summoned the Iraqi chargé d’affaires on June 14, 2024 to protest against death sentences handed down to Swedes in Iraq.
Swedish media reported in recent days that two Swedes have been sentenced to death in Iraq after being convicted of killing a member of criminal gang there. On June 14, Sweden's news agency TT cited the foreign ministry in Stockholm's confirmation that at least one person with a Swedish passport has received a death sentence.
“We condemn the use of the death penalty. We oppose it always, everywhere and regardless of the circumstances,” Sweden’s Foreign Minister Tobias Billström said in a statement.
He said officials conveyed Sweden's protests at the meeting and demanded that the sentences not be enforced.
TT reported that another two Swedes have been detained for alleged involvement in the murder of a criminal in Iraq.
The killing earlier this year is believed to be linked to an internal gang war between two Swedish groups that has resulted in numerous killings and attempted murders, some occurring outside Sweden. The Foxtrot network and its rival, Rumba, have for years been involved in deadly feuds.
Sweden has grappled with gang violence for years and criminal gangs often recruit teenagers in socially disadvantaged immigrant neighborhoods to carry out hits. Swedish police recorded 109 shootings so far this year, including 14 fatal shootings. Last year, 53 people were killed and 109 were wounded in a total of 363 shootings.

29 June 2024 :

June 28, 2024 - IRAN. Ahmad-Reza Jalali on Fourth Day of Hunger Strike
Ahmad-Reza Jalali, a dual-national death-row political prisoner currently held in Evin Prison, began a hunger strike on June 25th in protest of not being included in the recent prisoner exchange between Iran and Sweden.
Vida Mehrannia, Mr. Jalali’s wife, announced on her personal page: “My husband, who faces imminent execution by the Islamic Republic, started a hunger strike on Tuesday, June 25th, in protest of not being included in the recent prisoner exchange between Iran and Sweden.”
Mrs. Mehrannia added: “He has endured nearly 3,000 days in the notorious Evin Prison. The UN and many human rights organizations have declared my husband innocent, confirming that he was arbitrarily detained and used as a pawn in Iran’s cruel hostage diplomacy. They have called for his unconditional release.”
Recently, the Swedish Prime Minister announced the exchange of Hamid Nouri with Saeed Azizi and Johan Floderus, a Swedish diplomat.
Jalali was arrested by security forces in May 2016 and sentenced to death on charges of espionage. This sentence was ultimately upheld by the Supreme Court in December 2017.
On May 10, 2022, former Judiciary spokesperson Zabihollah Khodaeian stated in a press conference that Ahmadreza Jalali’s death sentence was final. He also claimed that there was no connection between the cases of Ahmadreza Jalali and Hamid Nouri, asserting, “The exchange of these two individuals is not under discussion.” However, Amnesty International issued a statement indicating that Iranian authorities aimed to exchange Jalali by threatening his execution.
Professor Jalali, invited to Iran by the University of Tehran in May 2016, was arrested on charges of “enmity against God (Moharebeh) through espionage for Israel.” The Tehran Prosecutor accused him of “transferring information about confidential projects in research, military, defense, and nuclear fields in exchange for citizenship for him and his family from Sweden.”

https://www.en-hrana.org/iranian-swedish-dual-national-ahmad-reza-jalali-on-fourth-day-of-hunger-strike-in-evin-prison/

19 June 2024 :

June 17, 2024 - IRAN. Iranians in Stockholm Rally Against Release of War Criminal Hamid Nouri
Iranians living in Sweden gathered outside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Sunday to protest the release of an Iranian official serving a life sentence for war crimes.
Hamid Nouri was in prison for his involvement in the 1988 massacre of thousands of Iranian political prisoners, and was released over the weekend in exchange for two Swedish citizens, one of whom was an EU diplomat accused of spying for Isreal.
The protest also highlighted the case of Ahmadreza Jalali, an Iranian-Swede who was left out of the prisoner swap and remains on death row in Iran.
Among the speakers of the rally was Jalili’s wife Vida Mehrannia who criticized Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson for agreeing to the exchange which only emboldens Iran's policy of hostage taking.
"The Swedish government has claimed that the Islamic Republic is not willing to agree to exchange Ahmadreza Jalali. How, then, was the Swedish government prepared to release a terrorist?" she questioned.
The protest in Stockholm is part of a larger wave of dissent, with many fearing that such exchanges may embolden the Iranian government in its use of hostage-taking as a diplomatic tool.
It is unknown how many dual-nationals are being held in Iran, but earlier this month it was revealed that a British-Iranian woman was the latest to have been found being held in Evin Prison on trumped up charges.
Nasrin Roshan was arrested on her way home to Britain accused of protesting against the government abroad, sentenced to three years in prison.
Just last year, the US exchanged five US-Iranians for the release of $6bn of frozen Iranian funds held in South Korea, further legitimizing Iran's policy of hostage-taking.

https://www.iranintl.com/en/202406162248

17 June 2024 :

June 15, 2024 - Sweden released Hamid Noury.
Convicted of war crimes.
Hamid Noury exchanged with Johan Floderus and Saeed Azizi
Hamid Noury, who was serving a life sentence, is returning to Tehran while Johan Floderus, a Swedish diplomat and dual national Saeed Azizi are on their way back to Stockholm.
Mr. Noury was arrested in Sweden in 2019 and convicted of involvement in the mass execution of political prisoners in Iran more than three decades ago.
Mr. Floderus was detained in Iran two years ago on charges of spying while Mr. Azizi was arrested last November and sentenced to five years in prison.
Relations between Sweden and Iran have deteriorated since Mr Noury's conviction.
Announcing the swap, Sweden's Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said Iran had made Mr Floderus and Mr Azizi "both pawns in a cynical negotiation game, with the aim of getting Iranian citizen Hamid Noury released from prison in Sweden".
He added: "He is convicted of serious crimes committed in Iran in the 1980s."
Kazem Gharibabadi, secretary of Iran's High Council for Human Rights, said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, on Saturday that Mr Noury had been illegally detained in Sweden but was now free and returning to Iran.
Mr Noury was accused of committing war crimes and murder in 1988 when, according to Swedish prosecutors, he was assistant to the deputy prosecutor at Gohardasht prison in Karaj.
He was the first person to face prosecution for participating in the execution of thousands of prisoners, which Iran's establishment has never formally acknowledged.
In 1988, the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), an Iraqi-backed leftist opposition group, had attacked Iran during the Iran and Iraq War.
Iran's then-Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued an order to execute all prisoners who were loyal to or sympathised with the group.
Human rights groups estimate that between 2,800 and 5,000 women and men were executed at sites, including Gohardasht prison, between July and September 1988.
Noury, 63, was arrested after arriving at Stockholm airport on a flight from Iran. He denied the charges against him but he was found guilty of "grave breaches of international humanitarian law and murder".
He was tried under the principle of universal jurisdiction which allows countries to prosecute people for serious crimes against international law that took place elsewhere.
This includes war crimes, genocide, torture and crimes against humanity.
Late Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, killed in a helicopter crash in May, also was involved in the mass executions.
Floderus' family said he was arrested in April 2022 at the Tehran airport while returning from a vacation with friends. Floderus had been held for months before his family and others went public with his detention.
Azizi's case was not as prominent, but in February, the group Human Rights Activists in Iran reported that the dual Iranian-Swedish national had been sentenced to five years in prison by Tehran's Revolutionary Court on charges of “assembly and collusion against national security.” The group said Azizi has cancer.
The EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, praised the release of the 2 men.
“Other EU citizens are still arbitrarily detained in Iran,” he wrote on the social platform X. “We'll continue to work for their freedom together” with other EU states.
Iran long has contended it doesn't hold prisoners to use in negotiations, despite years of multiple swaps with the U.S. and other nations showing otherwise.
The swap, however, did not free Ahmadreza Djalali, a Swedish-Iranian expert on disaster medicine whom a U.N. panel long has described as being arbitrarily detained by Tehran since his arrest in 2016. Djalali faces possible execution after being convicted on charges of “corruption on Earth” in 2017 following what Amnesty International called a “grossly unfair trial” in Revolutionary Court.
“Ahmadreza Djalali’s family was not informed or in any way warned that there was an ongoing deal and that Ahmadreza Djalali was to be left behind, EVEN THOUGH he is the Swedish citizen who has been held hostage the longest,” a campaign seeking his release said on X. “They read the news today, like anyone else.”

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czrr2kemjleo
https://apnews.com/article/iran-sweden-prisoner-swap-mideast-tensions-e55184f41acbc2154ac67f3bebe8b567
https://www.en-hrana.org/prisoner-exchange-hamid-nouri-released-from-prison-and-returned-to-iran/

10 March 2024 :

March 6, 2024 - IRAN. Sweden: Hamid Noury’s Appeal Rejected
Sweden Government Urged to Stand Firm Against Iranian Mass Murderers’ Impunity
Sweden's Supreme Court said Wednesday it would not hear an appeal by a former Iranian prison official who was handed a life sentence for crimes committed during a 1988 purge of dissidents.
A Swedish district court in July 2022 sentenced Hamid Noury, 62, to life in prison "for grave breaches of international humanitarian law and murder."
An appeals court upheld the verdict in December 2023, which Noury then appealed to the Supreme Court.
"The Supreme Court has now decided not to grant leave to appeal. This means that the judgment of the Court of Appeal stands," the court wrote in a statement.
Noury’s conviction centers on grave violations of international humanitarian law and murder committed during the harrowing events of the summer of 1988, where more than 30,000 political prisoners, predominantly affiliated with the People’s Mujahedin of Iran (PMOI/MEK), were executed following the regime’s acceptance of a ceasefire with Iraq.
Arrested at a Stockholm airport in November 2019, Noury stood trial under Sweden’s principle of universal jurisdiction, empowering the country to prosecute individuals for grave offenses regardless of where they occurred. Despite Noury’s persistent denial of the charges, dismissing them as fabricated, the appeals court upheld the initial verdict in December 2023.
This landmark case reverberates with broader implications, as it spotlights the long-standing accusations leveled against senior Iranian officials, including current President Ebrahim Raisi, for their alleged involvement in the “Death Committees” responsible for orchestrating the 1988 death sentences.
Sweden’s Supreme Court’s refusal to entertain Noury’s appeal underscores the nation’s unwavering commitment to confronting impunity for grave human rights violations and upholding the tenets of international law and justice. Despite concerted efforts by the clerical regime to contest the verdict through Noury’s legal representatives, Sweden’s High Court has unequivocally reaffirmed the primacy of justice, sending a resolute message against impunity for crimes against humanity.
Against the backdrop of these legal proceedings, which shed light on the Iranian regime’s egregious human rights abuses, particularly its hostage-taking practices, Tehran may reconsider its coercive tactics vis-à-vis Sweden. The infamous prisoner swap between Belgium and Iran in the case of Assadollah Assadi serves as a stark reminder of Tehran’s willingness to exploit diplomatic channels for its ulterior motives. Olivier Vandecasteele’s ordeal, detained in Iran for over a year, epitomizes Tehran’s instrumentalization of individuals for political leverage, evident in the release of a terrorist implicated in a plot targeting innocent civilians and Western dignitaries in 2018.
The ongoing conflict in the Middle East serves as a stark reminder of the international community’s failure to hold Tehran accountable for its role in funding, arming, and training proxy militant groups. This failure has allowed the regime to not only destabilize the region but also pose a threat to global security. Granting impunity to mass murderers and state-sponsored terrorists will only embolden the Iranian regime, enabling it to continue its dangerous tactics under the guise of strategic leverage and so-called “field diplomacy.”
On Noury’s case sse also HoC 14/11/2021, 10/03/2022, 02/05/2022, 14/07/2022, 06/05/2023, 07/08/2023, 19/12/2023 e 28/01/2024.

https://www.ncr-iran.org/en/iran-1988-massacre-of-political-prisoners/hamid-nourys-appeal-rejected-sweden-government-urged-to-stand-firm-against-iranian-mass-murderers-impunity/
https://www.barrons.com/news/sweden-s-high-court-refuses-appeal-of-iran-ex-prison-official-240f5e46

31 January 2024 :

January 28, 2024 - Iran seeking death penalty for Johan Floderus.
Swedish EU diplomat accused of spying for Israel
The trial of a Swedish EU diplomat wrapped up in Tehran on Sunday, with Iranian prosecutors seeking the maximum penalty for the man accused of spying for Israel.
The prosecutor said that 33-year-old Johan Floderus, who works for the European Union diplomatic service, was charged with “very extensive intelligence cooperation with the Zionist occupation regime,” meaning Israel, according to the judiciary’s Mizan Online website.
“Given the important nature and adverse effects of the accused’s actions, I demand the maximum penalty,” Mizan reported the prosecutor as saying.
Floderus was charged with “corruption on earth,” which is one of Iran’s most serious offenses and carries a maximum penalty of death.
The Swedish national was arrested on April 17, 2022, at Tehran airport on his return to Iran from a trip with friends, and has been on trial since December 2023.
No date has yet been set for the verdict.
Mizan published photos of Floderus in a prisoner’s uniform accompanied by his two lawyers in a near-empty Tehran courtroom.
It said the court sessions have ended, but his lawyers have a week to submit their defense.
Sweden and the EU have repeatedly called for Floderus’s immediate release, arguing that there was “absolutely no reason” for him to be held in Evin Prison, where a number of government opponents are also being held.
On January 17, Sweden summoned the Iranian chargé d’affaires to demand the release of citizens “arbitrarily detained” in Iran.
Relations between Sweden and Iran have deteriorated since a Swedish court in July 2022 handed down a life sentence to Iranian national Hamid Noury “for grave breaches of international humanitarian law and murder.”
Noury is a former Iranian prison official. The case related to the killing of at least 5,000 prisoners across Iran to avenge attacks carried out by exiled opposition group the People’s Mujahedin of Iran (MEK) at the end of the Iran-Iraq war of 1980-88.
Governments, human rights groups and families of foreign nationals being held in Iran have accused Tehran of engaging in “hostage diplomacy.”
A number of European nationals are being held in Iran, including 4 from France.
Louis Arnaud, a French national, was sentenced in November to 5 years in prison for propaganda and endangering the security of the country.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/iran-seeking-death-penalty-for-swedish-eu-diplomat-accused-of-spying-for-israel/