Iran summons Sweden's envoy to protest life sentence for ex-official Hamid Nouri

Iran's foreign ministry has summoned Sweden's charge d'affaires to protest the life sentence handed down to a former Iranian official over his alleged role in the execution of some MKO members in Iran in the 1980s.

A Swedish appeals court on Tuesday upheld the jail term handed down to Hamid Noury, 62, in July last year for alleged breaches of international humanitarian law and murder.

On Wednesday, the general director for Western Europe at the Iranian foreign ministry expressed regret that claims made by the notorious Mujahedin-e-Khalq Organization had been cited as evidence by the court.

“It’s regrettable that empty claims of individuals and a group that have committed the most heinous terrorist and anti-human acts against the people of Iran, Iraq and Europe for decades, is being cited in a court with minimum standards of fair proceedings, and legal mechanisms are allowed to be misused to pursue the political goals of toxic and destructive currents,” the statement cited the foreign ministry official as saying in the meeting.

“The Swedish court has taken the wrong path during the hearing of this fabricated and fake case by raising false allegations, without paying attention to the criteria of the legal process,” he said.

The senior Iranian diplomat said the verdict once again proved the double standards of the Western countries who claim to be advocating human rights worldwide.

“Pursuing the goals and objectives of anti-Iran terrorist and separatist groups and a group whose hands are stained with the blood of more than 17,000 Iranians once again proved the double [standard] of human rights claimants,” he said.

Iran condemns Swedish verdict against Nouri as ‘fundamentally unacceptable’

Iran’s Foreign Ministry vehemently condemns as “fundamentally unacceptable” a Swedish court’s verdict against Hamid Nouri.

The official vowed Iran will use all the facilities at its disposal to help free its citizen.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran is determined to continue pursuing the lost rights of its citizen until his complete freedom from the clutches of injustice, and reserves its right to take appropriate steps,” he said.

The verdict comes four years after Nouri was arrested at a Stockholm airport based on complaints filed by anti-Iranian groups in Sweden for his alleged role in the execution of a number of MKO members in Iran in the 1980s.

He was put on trial on allegations leveled against him by the MKO, which claimed Nouri was involved in the execution and torture of the grouplet's members in 1988.

Nouri and his defense team have vehemently denied the charges while the Iranian authorities have repeatedly said that the case has been based on political motives.

The case has created tensions between Iran and Sweden and has stirred anti-Sweden sentiment in Iran.

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