DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) – Iran on Saturday executed a dual Iranian-Swedish citizen accused of planning an attack on a 2018 military parade that killed at least 25 people in the west.
Farajora Chaab, also known as Habib Ashod, leads the Arab Movement for the Liberation of the Ahwaz, an Arab separatist movement that carried out bombings of oil pipelines and other attacks in Iran’s oil-rich province of Khuzestan was a person The group claimed the 2018 attack shortly after.
Chaab’s execution last year saw a Swedish court sentence a life imprisonment to an Iranian man implicated in Iran’s 1988 mass executions at the end of its war with Iraq. Tehran, which has been in the country for decades, reacted angrily to the ruling. Meanwhile, tensions between Iran and Western powers remain high over its rapidly advancing nuclear program, and at least one other prisoner linked to Western officials faces possible execution.
Iran’s Justice Department’s Mizan news agency published a lengthy statement confirming Chaab’s execution. She identified him as the leader of an extremist group and claimed, without providing any evidence, that he had ties to Swedish, Israeli, and U.S. intelligence services. It blamed the group for killing or wounding 450 people over the years, including the attack on It also included an interview with Churb on national television. This has been a hallmark of many Iranian trials that activists have long described as forced confessions.
It also said that “unidentified soldiers” had captured him in Turkey in November 2019, and for the first time clearly identified Iranian intelligence agents as behind Cha’ab’s kidnapping. Iran has used similar tricks to ensnare its enemies abroad, including exiled journalist Ruhollah Zam, who was executed in 2020.
Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Birstrom condemned Chaab’s execution.
“The death penalty is an inhuman and irrevocable punishment and Sweden, along with other countries (in the European Union), condemns its use under all circumstances,” he said in a statement. Sweden’s Nordic neighbors Finland and Norway also strongly condemned executions and strengthened their opposition to the death penalty. Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said: “It’s appalling.
An Oslo-based Iranian human rights group called Chaab’s closed trial “grossly unfair” and separately condemned the execution.
“This is an example of state terrorism in the Islamic Republic,” said Mahmoud Amily Moghadam, director of the group. “I hope the EU and the Swedish government will respond appropriately to the assassination of their citizens. The killing of hostages will not be tolerated.”
Tensions between Iran and Sweden had already escalated in the final stages of the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s over the life sentence of Hamid Nouri, who was convicted in Sweden of aggravated war crimes and murder. At the end of the war, an estimated 5,000 Iranian prisoners, including members of expelled opposition groups, were mass-executed.
A 2018 attack in Iran targeted a military parade in Ahvaz, Khuzestan province, and the chaos was broadcast live on state television. At least 25 people were killed and more than 60 wounded in the worst attack on Iran in years as militants disguised as soldiers opened fire. A spokesman for the separatist group claimed the attack in a television interview shortly thereafter.The Islamic State group also complained about the attack, but made a false statement about it. Iran has continued to carry out executions in recent months after months of unrest over the September death of 22-year-old Masa Amini after his arrest by Iranian deputies. In January, Iran executed a former British national of Iranian descent who was accused of espionage.
