FILE PHOTO: The Iranian flag is seen flying over a street in Tehran, Iran, February 3, 2023. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
DUBAI — Iran on Saturday executed a Swedish-Iranian dissident convicted of leading an Arab separatist group accused of attacks including one on a military parade in 2018 that killed 25 people, state television reported.
The Swedish foreign ministry said it had summoned Iran’s deputy ambassador to protest the execution of Habib Farajollah Chaab, which it confirmed took place earlier in the day.
Chaab had been sentenced to death for being “corrupt on earth,” a capital offense under Iran’s strict Islamic laws.
Iran brought him to trial in 2022 on charges of leading the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahwaz, which seeks a separate state in the oil-rich Khuzestan province in southwestern Iran, and plotting and carrying out “numerous bombings and terrorist operations.”
Iran said in 2020 that its security forces detained Chaab in neighboring Turkey and took him to Tehran, without giving details of his capture.
READ: Iran executes British-Iranian accused of spying
Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom reacted with “dismay” to Chaab’s execution, saying Sweden had pleaded with Iran not to carry it out.
“The death penalty is an inhuman and irreversible punishment and Sweden, together with the rest of the EU, condemns its application under all circumstances,” he said.
READ: Outrage as Iran hands down more death sentences over Amini protests
Sweden had voiced concern over Chaab’s case, and ties with Iran had also been soured over a Swedish court’s life-time prison sentence for a former Iranian official for involvement in the mass execution of political prisoners in 1988 in the Islamic Republic.
Iran has had tense relations with its ethnic minorities, which include Arabs, Kurds, Azeris and Baluch, and has accused them of aligning with neighboring countries.
READ: Iran hangs two men accused of killing security agent during protests
Arabs and other minorities have long complained of facing discrimination in Iran, an accusation Tehran denies.
RELATED STORIES
Iran carries out second execution linked to anti-government protests
Iran carries out first known execution over Amini protests