Amnesty International accuses Iran of "taking hostages" of a Sweden sentenced to death

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Protesters in Stockholm with a picture of Ahmadreza Djalali

Photo: ANDERS WIKLUND / AFP

The human rights organization Amnesty International accuses Iran of holding the imprisoned Swedish-Iranian citizen Ahmadreza Djalali as a "hostage".

The Iranian authorities used Djalali, who was sentenced to death in 2017 on espionage charges, as a "figure" in a "cruel political game," Amnesty said.

According to Iranian media, Djalali could be killed by hanging by Saturday.

Officials in the country had announced several times that the sentence would be carried out.

According to Amnesty International, "evidence is mounting" that the Iranian authorities are "holding Djalali hostage and threatening to execute him in order to force third parties to exchange him for Iranian officials who have been convicted abroad or are on trial." «.

Tehran also wants to increase the pressure to deter future criminal prosecution of Iranian officials, Amnesty said.

Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty's deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa, accused Iran of trying to "pervert the course of justice".

Iran's authorities are said to be "under investigation for hostage-taking."

The background to Amnesty's allegations is a trial in Sweden against former Iranian prison worker Hamid Nuri, who is accused of being involved in the 1988 massacres in Iranian prisons.

The process takes place on the basis of the principle of universal jurisdiction, which also allows the judiciary to try criminal proceedings for offenses outside its own national territory.

The verdict is expected on July 14.

Death sentence is sharply criticized

In Belgium, former Iranian diplomat Assadollah Assadi was sentenced to 20 years in prison for his role in a 2018 foiled attack on Iranian opposition figures.

Iranian-Swedish researcher Djalali was employed at the Karolinska Medical Institute in Stockholm before he was arrested in April 2016 while on a trip to Iran.

The following year he was sentenced to death.

The Iranian judiciary found him guilty of providing information to the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, which then led to the killing of two Iranian nuclear scientists.

Sweden granted Djalali citizenship while he was in prison in February 2018.

His death sentence was sharply criticized by human rights organizations and representatives of the UN, among others.

More than 12 Western citizens are currently being held in Iran, most of them with dual citizenship.

A trial is also currently underway against the German-Iranian opposition figure Jamshid Sharmahd for alleged involvement in an assassination attempt and corruption, in which he faces a death sentence.

bam/AFP