A Swedish-Iranian national convicted to death in Iran on charges of spying for Israeli intelligence will be executed this month, according to Iran’s semi-official news agency on Wednesday.
Ahmadreza Djalali, a disaster medicine doctor and researcher, was detained in 2016 during an academic visit to Iran and is scheduled to be executed on May 21, according to ISNA.
The report comes as Hamid Noury, a former Iranian prosecutor, is currently serving a life sentence in Sweden for international war crimes and human rights violations after being detained by Swedish police in 2019.
Noury is accused of playing a key role in the 1988 executions of political detainees at the Gohardasht prison in Karaj, Iran, on government orders.
Swedish courts have the authority to prosecute Swedish citizens and other nationals for crimes against international law committed outside of Sweden.
According to an earlier report, Iran’s foreign ministry summoned Sweden’s ambassador on Monday to express the Islamic Republic’s opposition “to the unfounded and fraudulent accusations made against Iran by the Swedish prosecutor during Noury’s court case.”
Amnesty International has said previously that Djalali’s sentence should be overturned.
“It is disgraceful that, despite repeated appeals from UN human rights experts to overturn Ahmadreza Djalali’s death sentence and release him, the Iranian authorities have chosen to pursue this unforgivable injustice.”
Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa, Diana Eltahawy, stated, “They must immediately cease any plans to execute Ahmadreza Djalali and terminate their horrific assault on his right to life.”
