The Swedish Court of Appeals has made a wrong and very disappointing decision to confirm the life sentence handed to Hamid Nouri, a former Iranian judiciary official who has been illegally incarcerated in Sweden, his Swedish lawyer says.
The Swedish trial and appeal courts had different interpretations of what constitutes a crime against international law and murder but they issued identical verdicts, Thomas Bodstrom told Mizan news agency on Monday.
He added that the Stockholm Court of Appeals refused to examine the very strong defense presented by Nouri’s lawyers.
It was crystal clear that the witnesses had been ordered to pursue a specific agenda during the legal procedure of the imprisoned Iranian official, even though they tried to conceal it, Bodstrom emphasized.
Nouri was arrested upon arrival at Stockholm Airport in November 2019 and was immediately imprisoned. He has been illegally jailed for three and a half years in solitary confinement in Sweden.
Hamid Nouri’s life sentence is a violation of human rights, says his lawyer, criticizing the Swedish government’s trial of the former Iranian official on false allegations.
He was put on trial on unfounded allegations staged against him by elements representing the Mujahedin-e-Khalq Organization (MKO) terrorist group that has openly boasted about carrying out terrorist operations against Iranian officials and civilians perceived to be supporters of the government.
Back in December, the Swedish Court of Appeals finally confirmed Nouri’s sentence of life imprisonment over his alleged role in the execution of some MKO members in Iran in the 1980s.
A Swedish court sentenced Nouri to life imprisonment in 2022. The court, which was described by Iran as illegitimate in the first place, convicted Nouri of “war crimes and crimes against humanity” entirely based on claims made by MKO terrorists living in exile across Europe.