Amnesty International Warns: Ahmadreza Jalali at Risk of 'Retaliatory Execution'

Amnesty International has warned of the risk of 'retaliatory execution' for Ahmadreza Jalali, a Swedish-Iranian physician imprisoned in Evin, in response to the verdict against Hamid Nouri in Sweden. Diana Tahawi, Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International, highlighted the alarming developments indicating that Jalali is at serious risk of execution, referencing a sharp increase in executions in Iran since November of this year. She stated that evidence suggests Iranian officials intend to carry out Jalali's death sentence as retaliation for unmet demands and to divert justice in Sweden. Amnesty International described the 'cruel game' with Jalali's life as exacerbating concerns about his being taken hostage to pressure Sweden into a prisoner exchange. The organization urged the international community to demand that Iranian authorities immediately revoke Jalali's death sentence and release him. It also called for accountability for Iranian officials for 'taking hostages.' According to information provided by Jalali's family, on the first day of Dey, a judicial official warned Jalali during a prison visit that his death sentence would soon be executed. This official also claimed that Sweden is holding Hamid Nouri to pressure Iran for Jalali's release, despite the fact that Jalali was arrested in 2017, two years before Nouri's arrest. Amnesty International condemned this claim as 'horrific.' On December 19, the Swedish Court of Appeal upheld Nouri's life sentence for his involvement in the mass execution of political prisoners in the 1980s. Nouri, who was known as Hamid Abbasi, a former deputy prosecutor in the Iranian judiciary, was arrested in Sweden in November 2019. On July 13, 2022, after 93 court sessions in Stockholm, he was sentenced to life imprisonment and ordered to pay compensation to the families of the executed prisoners. Immediately after this, the Islamic Republic's state television aired a video of Jalali's 'forced confessions.' Jalali has repeatedly denied the charges against him, including espionage for Israel, claiming that he was tortured and coerced into confessing. The video also included forced confessions from Habib Chaab, a dual Swedish-Iranian citizen, who was secretly executed by Iranian authorities earlier this year. This has heightened concerns about the potential execution of Ahmadreza Jalali. Iranian officials sentenced Jalali to death for 'corruption on earth' in a 'severely unfair' trial, one year after his arrest. Amnesty International's statement also referenced the alarming rise in executions in Iran, noting that at least 115 people were executed in November alone. Amnesty described the death penalty as a violation of the right to life and the ultimate form of cruel, inhuman, and degrading punishment. The United Nations General Assembly also approved a resolution proposed by Canada condemning widespread human rights violations by the Islamic Republic, which had previously been passed in the Third Committee. Earlier, on October 24, Javaid Rehman, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, presented a report to the General Assembly and the Third Committee, stating that the report depicts the 'bitter reality' of the human rights situation in Iran.