Iran executes Iranian-Swedish dual national for 2018 attack

By Syed Zafar Mehdi

TEHRAN, Iran (AA) – Iran on Saturday executed a Swedish-Iranian dual national accused of spearheading a separatist group blamed by Tehran for a string of attacks in the country.

The judiciary’s Mizan News said Habib Farajullah Chaab, the leader of Harakat al-Nidal group, was executed on Saturday, calling him the “mastermind” of an attack that killed 25 people in Ahvaz in 2018.

On September 22, 2018, militants masquerading as soldiers opened fire on an annual military parade in Ahvaz, the capital of Khuzestan province.

At the time, Iran blamed Saudi Arabia and Israeli intelligence agencies for involvement in the attack.

Mizan News accused Chaab of “planning and executing” several other attacks in Iran, saying the focus of the group he headed was to carry out “assassinations and bombings” in southwestern Iran.

Chaab, who was arrested in November 2020 and brought to Iran from abroad, was given the death penalty on charges of “corruption on earth”, which carries the maximum legal punishment under Iranian law.

The sentence against him was upheld by Iran’s apex court in March after multiple court hearings, linking him to intelligence agencies of Sweden, Israel and the United States.

Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom expressed dismay over the execution, saying his government had urged Tehran not to go ahead with the sentence.

“The death penalty is an inhuman and irreversible punishment and Sweden, together with the rest of the EU, condemns its application under all circumstances,” he said in a statement.

Iran has arrested several dual nationals in recent years, mostly on charges of espionage and security crimes.

In January, Alireza Akbari, a dual Iranian-British national and former deputy defense minister, was executed on charges of espionage for the British intelligence agency MI6.