IRAN executed a Swedish-Iranian dissident accused of masterminding a deadly military parade attack in 2018.
Sweden summoned Iran’s acting ambassador to protest the execution of Swedish-Iranian National Habib Cha’ab for allegedly leading a rebel group and carrying out bombings.
In a statement, the Swedish Foreign Ministry called the act inhuman and said it condemned the decision along with the rest of the EU.
“The death penalty is an inhuman and irreversible punishment and Sweden, together with the rest of the EU, condemns its use under any circumstances,” Foreign Ministry of Sweden said.
Cha’ab was executed on Saturday for terrorism and was convicted of leading an Arab separatist group known as the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahwaz, also known as Harakat al-Nidal in Arabic.
Iran considers the said movement a terrorist group.
As the alleged leader of Harakat al-Nidal, Cha’ab was accused as the mastermind behind a shooting attack that took place in the southwestern Iranian city of Ahvaz in 2018.
Unknown attackers opened fire during the military parade which killed more than 20 people and wounded dozens of others.
Meanwhile, the Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) and the France-based Together Against the Death Penalty (ECPM) groups revealed that the Islamic Republic carried out at least 500 executions last year.
The executions were linked to months of unrest following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini who died at the hands of the morality police in September last year after she was arrested for allegedly violating the country’s strict hijab laws.
Mahsa Amini’s family claimed that some witnesses told them she had been beaten by officers while under custody before she fell ill and slipped into a coma.
A coroners’s report however refuted the claim, stating that her death was not a result of being hit but due to an “underlying disease” related to a surgery she had when she was eight years old, causing her to lose consciousness and suffer from multiple organ failures.
The execution was Iran’s latest use of the death penalty against dual nationals, with rights groups claiming it was Tehran‘s way to frighten protesters.
