صراط عشق صراط عشق
The Iranian Foreign Ministry summoned Sweden’s charge d’affaires in Tehran in protest at a Swedish court’s sentencing of former Iranian official Hamid Nouri to life imprisonment on the basis of unfounded allegations leveled against him by an anti-Iran terrorist group.
The director of the Western Europe Division III of the Iranian foreign ministry summoned the Swedish diplomat in the absence of Sweden’s ambassador to Tehran on Thursday after the court issued the conviction against Nouri, a former Iranian judiciary official.
The Swedish diplomat was presented with an official protest note.
Nouri, a former Iranian judiciary employee who has been in solitary confinement in Sweden since 2019, was sentenced to life imprisonment by a court in Sweden on Thursday.
The Iranian foreign ministry diplomat called the sentence “illegal and contrary to the principles of the international law”, calling the tribunal “incompetent” and the court proceedings “illegal”.
He further blasted Sweden for its “selective approach towards terrorism” by giving credence to the MKO’s allegations against Nouri.
The Iranian foreign ministry diplomat further reminded that the Iranian citizen had been subjected to solitary confinement, as well as various other limitations and mental and physical pressures, calling the inhumane conditions “practical manifestation of torture and violation of the fundamental human rights”.
He said the Swedish government was responsible for the violation of the Iranian citizen’s rights and the repercussions that his treatment would have on Sweden’s relations with the Islamic Republic.
The diplomat called on Stockholm to reverse Nouri’s conviction, enable his immediate release, and compensate him for the dire conditions that he has been forced to suffer.
The Swedish diplomat said the Iranian citizen would be provided with the chance to appeal his conviction, and vowed to convey Iran’s protest at the case to the respective government.
Nouri was arrested upon arrival in Sweden at Stockholm Airport in November 2019 and immediately imprisoned. He has been held in solitary confinement for over two years.
Swedish prosecutors have requested the maximum penalty of life imprisonment for Nouri, accusing the former Iranian judiciary official of prisoner abuse.
The charges against Nouri stem from allegations leveled against him by members of the anti-Iran Mojahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) terrorist group. Nouri has vehemently rejected the allegations.
Amir Abdollahian has denounced his detention as “illegal”.
Swedish judicial authorities have been preventing Nouri from contacting his family since moving him to a different detention center.
Upon arrest, he was forbidden for around eight months from making phone calls to his family members, and barred from meeting them in person for two years.
Also in May, Iran’s Judiciary Spokesman Zabihollah Khodayian said that Hamid Nouri who is deprived of human rights is being tried in a politically-driven trial in Sweden.
Nouri’s trial couldn’t be described as judicial because it is political and lacks international and even Sweden’s national legal standards, Khodayian said.
A fair trial should adopt specific measures of which Nouri has been deprived, he said, adding that Nouri has even been deprived of his human rights.
Tehran on Thursday strongly condemned a Swedish court ruling for the life imprisonment of Iranian citizen and former judiciary official Hamid Nouri, saying the court is basically unqualified to address the case.
The court statement is fundamentally “rejected, distorted and unacceptable,” Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nasser Kana’ani said, adding that “the court lacks legal legitimacy to deal with the case.”
The spokesperson noted that “Iran holds Sweden accountable for the damages caused to bilateral relations between the two countries by this statement and ruling”.
“Islamic Republic of Iran strongly condemns this political statement which includes baseless and fabricated allegations against the Islamic Republic of Iran and the judicial statement of our country and also an announcement of life sentence for Mr. Hamid Nouri,” Kana’ani stressed.
He argued that instead of responding to the Iranian public opinion about allowing free activity of a terrorist group, the Swedish judicial system is supporting and promoting terrorism in practice.
Kana’ani regretted that Sweden has put its judicial system at the service of the criminal goals of the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) terrorist group.
In a relevant development on Thursday, Iranian Embassy in Stockholm deplored a Swedish court’s life imprisonment verdict against Hamid Nouri, a former Iranian official who has been imprisoned in that country since late 2019, as politically motivated and devoid of judiciary value.
While emphasizing its strong belief in the articles of the UN Charter of Human Rights, specially those related to judiciary justice, the Iranian embassy announces that the verdict issued against Hamid Nouri is based on baseless accusations at the Stockholm Court and is politically-motivated.
The Iranian embassy pointed out that the court ruling is devoid of judiciary value due to the following reasons:
– The legitimacy of an international court is proven when a crime is committed at the international scene, while in this file no crime is committed at the international scene, and therefore, the Swedish judiciary system’s entry into this issue equals breaching the governments’ equality rule, intervention in countries’ internal affairs, and breaching the peaceful coexistence in international relations.
– Pursuing the matter, and the plots that led to setting trap, arresting and filing complaints against Mr. Hamid Nouri by a well-known terrorist group that had existed for many years in the terrorist groups list of the EU and some other countries is obvious. Therefore, most of the complainers and witnesses are members of that internationally known terrorist group, which has itself committed many horrendous crimes.
The basis of the prosecutor’s declaration, too, is based on the books, memories and novels produced by the members of that terrorist group, which proves the political nature of that court.
The Iranian embasy pointed out that throughout 33 months of Mr. Nouri’s confinement at the solitary confinement, he was deprived of the most primitive rights of the prisoners based on the international standards, including the right for him to complain about physical and spiritual harsh acts and torture, his inability to refer to eye doctor, his not being permitted to contact and meet his family members throughout the first 25 months of being under arrest, strict restrictions for making phone and meeting family members during the past few months, and… which are all unheeded.
It pointed out that the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran will continue its legal actions in line with defending the rights of the Iranian citizens.
It is expected that the Swedish judiciary system will pay closer attention to the intentions and enmity of the terrorist groups involved in this file against the Iranian nation, and refrain from spending its own credit in favor of that group, and pave the path towards implementing justice based on internationally recognized judiciary rules.
