Saturday , 20 April 2024

EU condemns execution of Iranian-Swedish dissident Habib Chaab

Al-Arabia – Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom condemned Saturday the execution of Swedish-Iranian dissident Habib Chaab, as the Iranian judiciary announced Chaab’s death sentence had been carried out after a conviction for “terrorism.”

“The death penalty is an inhuman and irreversible punishment and Sweden, together with the rest of the EU, condemns its application in all circumstances,” Billstrom, whose country currently holds the EU presidency, wrote on Twitter.

He added that Stockholm had contacted Tehran “and demanded that the sentence not be carried out.”

Chaab had been held in Iran since October 2020 after he vanished during a visit to Turkey before going on trial in Tehran, which does not recognize dual nationality.

Convicted of “corruption on earth” for heading a rebel group, he was condemned to death on December 6 — a decision denounced by Sweden — and Iran’s supreme court upheld the sentence in March.

Iranian authorities accused Chaab of staging attacks since 2005 “under the protection of two spy services, including the Mossad and Sapo” — the Israeli and Swedish agencies, respectively.

“The death sentence for Habib Chaab… nicknamed Habib Asyud, the head of the Harakat al-Nidal terrorist group… was carried out today, Saturday morning,” the judiciary’s Mizan Online website reported on Saturday.

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