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.
In remarks cited by the Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet (SvD), Thomas Bodstrom, Nouri’s lawyer, stated that the Swedish Court of Appeals finally confirmed Nouri’s sentence of life imprisonment despite the many violations in the process of handling the case.
He pointed out that Nouri had been denied valuable documents essential for his defense in the Court of Appeal, with the court claiming that the documents had been erased mistakenly by the prison.
“It is believed that Nouri, arrested in Stockholm Arlanda Airport, was deceived in such a way that violates the principles of human rights,” Nouri’s Swedish attorney argued, advising the Swedish government against deceiving people over matters it should not concern itself with.
Nouri was arrested upon arrival at Stockholm Airport in November 2019 and was immediately imprisoned. He has been illegally jailed for three-and-half years in solitary confinement in Sweden.
Bodstrom also argued that by Nouri’s trial, Sweden deprived itself of hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of Iranian visitors who have worked in the Iranian government and do not want to risk life imprisonment by visiting Sweden.
In an earlier exclusive interview with Press TV, Bodstrom described the case as “very strange,” saying, “I cannot understand why we should have a trial in Sweden about what had happened in another country 35 years ago for a person who is not a Swedish person.”
Earlier this month, Iran’s Judiciary announced that Iran “will not recognize any verdict except the acquittal verdict regarding Hamid Nouri’s innocence,” calling the verdict against Nouri “unfair.”
Iran’s foreign ministry also summoned Sweden’s charge d’affaires in Tehran to protest the life sentence handed down to Nouri. The verdict once again proved the double standards of the Western countries who claim to be advocating human rights worldwide, the ministry said in a statement.
Nouri, a former Iranian judiciary official, 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.
The MKO has claimed responsibility for the murder of over 17,000 Iranians. It used to be internationally recognized as a terrorist group but Western politicians pushed for the MKO’s removal from the list of terrorist groups based on their anti-Iran and Islamophobic tendencies.
The terrorist group had falsely claimed that Nouri was involved in the execution and torture of MKO members in 1988, but he has vehemently rejected the baseless allegations.
Last July, a Swedish court sentenced Nouri to life imprisonment. 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.
