A court in Denmark has found three members of the socalled the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahvaz (ASMLA) guilty of financing and supporting terrorist activity in Iran in collaboration with Saudi Arabian intelligence services as well as espionage.
Danish news wire Ritzau reported on Friday that the three men were convicted of endorsing attacks against Iran and also supporting the so-called Jaish ul-Adl terrorist group.
The report said he defendants face prison sentences of up to 12 years for numerous offences, including providing information about Danish and foreign organizations and individuals to the Saudi Arabian intelligence service.
All three men were arrested two years ago and have been in custody ever since.
They also face potential deportation, and one also risks having his Danish citizenship revoked.
The development came only two days after the third trial session of ringleader of the ASMLA terror outfit, where the prosecutor presented evidence disclosing his ties with Riyadh and Tel Aviv regimes.
Habib Farajollah Chaab, also known as Habib Asyud, appeared in court on Wednesday.
At the hearing, Amin Vaziri, the prosecutor’s representative, said Chaab is accused of corruption on earth through forming, managing and heading the ASMLA, as well as planning and carrying out terrorist operations, and destroying public property.
“Members of this terrorist group visited Saudi Arabia annually under the guise of Hajj to carry out the plans dictated by the Saudi intelligence agency. These plans included actions against innocent citizens of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” he added.
Vaziri also displayed the picture of a meeting between the Saudi culture minister and an ASMLA member, who was arrested in the Netherlands for terrorist acts and sentenced to four years in prison. He further showed the photo of an invitation sent to the militant by the Saudi king.
Another picture showed a meeting between the ASMLA spokesman and the Saudi king.
Additionally, the prosecutor’s representative pointed to the ties between the ASMLA and Israel’s Mossad spy agency.
He also presented written documents that showed Chaab had dealings with former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The SMLA has been pushing to separate the southwestern province of Khuzestan — home to the country’s Arab population — from the rest of Iran through engaging in an armed conflict against the Iranian government.
In September 2018, it claimed responsibility for an attack on a military parade in Ahvaz, Khuzestan’s provincial capital, which killed 25 people, including members of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) and civilian bystanders, and injured 70 others.
Chaab was arrested in November 2020 through a set of “specialized and combined measures” by Iranian intelligence forces.