Iranian convicted of struggle crimes freed in Sweden prisoner swap

An Iranian convicted in Sweden of struggle crimes has been freed as a part of a prisoner swap between the 2 international locations.

Hamid Noury, who was serving a life sentence, has returned to Tehran whereas Johan Floderus, a Swedish diplomat and twin nationwide Saeed Azizi arrived again in Stockholm late on Saturday night.

Mr Noury was arrested in Sweden in 2019 and convicted of involvement within the mass execution of political prisoners in Iran greater than three many years in the past.

Mr Floderus was detained in Iran two years in the past on fees of spying whereas Mr Azizi was arrested final November and sentenced to 5 years in jail.

Relations between Sweden and Iran have deteriorated since Mr Noury’s conviction.

Saying the swap, Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson mentioned 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 Excessive Council for Human Rights, mentioned in a publish on X, previously Twitter, on Saturday that Mr Noury had been “illegally detained” in Sweden however was now free.

Mr Noury was accused of committing struggle crimes and homicide in 1988 when, based on Swedish prosecutors, he was assistant to the deputy prosecutor at Gohardasht jail in Karaj.

He was the primary individual to face prosecution for taking part within the execution of hundreds of prisoners, which Iran’s institution has by no means formally acknowledged.

In 1988, the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), an Iraqi-backed leftist opposition group, had attacked Iran through the Iran and Iraq Warfare.

Iran’s then-Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued an order to execute all prisoners who had been loyal to or sympathised with the group.

Human rights teams estimate that between 2,800 and 5,000 men and women had been executed at websites, together with Gohardasht jail, between July and September 1988.

Mr Noury, 63, was arrested after arriving at Stockholm airport on a flight from Iran. He denied the costs towards him however he was discovered responsible of “grave breaches of international humanitarian law and murder”.

He was tried underneath the precept of common jurisdiction which permits international locations to prosecute folks for severe crimes towards worldwide regulation that befell elsewhere.

This consists of struggle crimes, genocide, torture and crimes towards humanity.

Mr Floderus, 33, was dealing with the loss of life penalty after his arrest in Iran in 2022 on accusations of espionage whereas he was on vacation.

Mr Azizi, an Iranian-Swedish nationwide in his early 60s, was discovered responsible of “assembly and collusion against national security”.

Oman helped negotiate the prisoner swap and performed a key function within the launch of one other European nationwide final week. French banker Louis Arnaud was freed after two years in detention in Iran.