Iran, Iranian-Swedish dissident Habib Chaab executed by hanging, convicted of “terrorism”.

ROME – At dawn on Saturday morning 6 May, the site Mizan Online, considered a bit like the press office of the Iranian judiciary, wrote: “The death sentence of Habib Chaab, surnamed Habib Asyud, head of the Harakat Al-Nidal terrorist group, has been carried out.” You learn it from the site of Hands Off Cain. Chaab, 50, was a political activist who founded and directed the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahvaz, i.e. a separatist movement that would like the independence of the province of Khuzestan, where the population is largely of Shiite Arab ethnicity (and not Persians), and is made to live in very modest conditions, despite the region being rich in oil. Khuzestan faces the sea of ​​the Persian Gulf and borders on Iraq. Chaab had started talking in the international media on the occasion of his “disappearance” in Turkey in October 2020.

The kidnapping in Türkiye. That month, Iranian officials said they arrested Chaab in Turkey and transferred him to Iran. Chaab, who had lived in Sweden for 14 years, where he had also acquired nationality, was apparently lured to Turkey by an acquaintance and kidnapped there and taken, we don’t know how, to Iran. Hoda Hawashemi, Chaab’s wife, said in an interview with Iran International TV that she held Iran and Turkey responsible for her husband’s situation. The executive committee of the Arab Struggle for the Liberation of Ahwaz movement also reported that Alaswad, the former leader of the movement, had been “kidnapped” in Turkey. Even then he recalled that it was not the first time that dissident political activists had been kidnapped in Iran’s neighboring countries and handed over to the Iranian security forces. Following the international controversy, Turkey arrested 11 people linked to the Iranian secret services operating in Turkey.

The main evidence about him is a “confession”. Iranian authorities have accused Chaab of organizing terrorist attacks since 2005 “under the protection of two intelligence services, the Mossad and Sapo”, Israeli and Swedish agencies respectively. According to the indictment, other leaders of Harakat Al-Nidal reside in Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden, with the group receiving financial and logistical support from Saudi Arabia. In the trial, the main piece of evidence against him was a “confession”. Obviously the pro-government sources do not say this, but, as is known, in “political” trials, confessions are always obtained “under duress”, i.e. through torture.

Tensed relations with ethnic minorities. The Islamic Republic has strained relations with its ethnic minorities, which include Arabs, Kurds, Azeris and Balochs, and accuses them of aligning themselves with neighboring countries rather than Tehran. Western observers link the Chaab affair to the souring of relations between Iran and Sweden over a Swedish court handing down a life sentence to Hamid Noury, a former Iranian prison official accused of crimes against humanity for his role in the mass execution of political prisoners in 1988. As also happened in other cases, the fact that some Western countries facilitate the granting of nationality to political opponents in exile, convinced that this could be a useful political signal to “protect” them , when it comes to Iran, not only does it not seem to work, it is often even counterproductive.

Rejected the concept of “dual nationality”. The Iranian authorities never accept the concept of “dual nationality”, not even in less dramatic cases than that of Chaab. Not recognizing the principle of “dual nationality”, Iran believes it is not required to respect international agreements, which it has also signed, in terms of “due process”, which provide, as a minimum guarantee, that a defendant is assisted by a lawyer chosen by the consulate of the country of origin, and that personnel delegated by the embassy can assist in the main stages of the process.
Amnesty International Italy denounces the hanging of the Iranian-Swedish activist and the harsh repression against European citizens by Iran

Amnesty International complaint. Riccardo Noury, spokesperson for Amnesty International Italy, said that “Saturday’s hanging of Habib Chaab, captured in Turkey by Tehran’s services, tried on charges of terrorism through confessions extracted with torture, not only shows once again the brutality of the Iranian authorities, which after the over 570 from 2022 have already carried out almost 200 death sentences in the first four months of 2023. It also shows that the Iranian government continues to harass citizens with European passports, using them as hostages awaiting compensation. I recall that another Swedish citizen, the scientist Ahmadreza Djajali, risks hanging for the false accusation of spying on behalf of Israel. What is the European Union waiting for to make its voice heard clearly and unequivocally?”