Iran
Habib Farajollah Chaab, accused of "terrorism" and "corruption on earth," during his first trial. Photo: file/Iran Press/AFP
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iran on Saturday carried out the death sentence of a dual Swedish-Iranian national accused of “terrorism” and “spreading corruption on earth,” Iranian media reported.
“The death sentence of Habib Farajollah Chaab, nicknamed Habib Asyod, the leader of Harakat al-Nidal terrorist group … was executed this morning,” said Mizan Online, which is affiliated with Iran’s judiciary.
Chaab, a Sweden-based dissident from Iran’s Arab minority, led the Swedish branch of the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahvaz (ASMLA). In late 2020, a month after disappearing during a visit to Turkey, he appeared on Iranian state television claiming responsibility for a deadly attack on a military parade in September 2017 in the city of Ahvaz in Khuzestan province, which killed around 30 people, including members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Such confession videos are common in Iran and are frequently condemned by rights groups who say they are often obtained under duress.
“As a result of the terrorist and bloody actions of this group led by Habib Asyod, more than 450 Iranian citizens have been martyred or injured,” Mizan stated.
Sweden on Saturday morning condemned the execution of Chaab as “inhumane” and said it had previously urged Iran not to carry out the death sentence.
“The death penalty is an inhumane and irreversible punishment and Sweden, together with the rest of the EU, condemns its application under all circumstances,” Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom said on Twitter, adding that he had personally raised the issue with his Iranian counterpart.
Convicted of “corruption on earth” and “terrorism,” Chaab was sentenced to death on December 6 and had his sentence approved by the Supreme Court on March 12.
Iran is one of the world’s top executioners with the rate skyrocketing after President Ebrahim Raisi took office in August 2021.
In January, Iran executed Alireza Akbari, a British-Iranian dual national who was formerly Iran’s deputy defense minister, on charges of espionage.
In late April, Iran upheld the death sentence for Jamshid Sharmahd, a German journalist of Iranian descent accused of involvement in a deadly 2008 bombing in Shiraz that killed 14 people.
Updated at 11:40 am with Sweden's condemnation
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