PARIS: An Iranian-Swedish citizen facing imminent execution in Iran is being held as a hostage by Tehran in a bid to force Belgium and Sweden to make concessions in two cases concerning former Iranian officials, Amnesty International said Thursday.
Ahmadreza Djalali was sentenced to death in 2017 on espionage charges that are deemed baseless by Stockholm and his supporters, and Iranian media reports say he could be hanged by May 21, a punishment that officials have repeatedly insisted will be carried out.
The risk to his life comes as anger grows among families of Western nationals often held for years on end by Iran, who they say are being held as pawns in a game over which the innocent detainees have no control.
“Mounting evidence strongly indicates that the Iranian authorities are holding... Djalali hostage and threatening to execute him to compel third parties to swap him for former Iranian officials convicted or on trial abroad, as well as to refrain from future prosecutions of Iranian officials,” Amnesty International said.
In an unprecedented case, a Swedish court is trying Hamid Noury, a former prison official, over his alleged involvement over massacres in Iranian prisons in 1988, with the verdict expected on July 14.
Noury, who was arrested in Sweden in November 2019, is being tried under the principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows states to investigate serious crimes that were committed abroad.
Meanwhile, Assadollah Assadi, a former Iranian diplomat, is serving a 20-year prison sentence in Belgium for his role in a thwarted 2018 bomb attack in France that was targeting a meeting of an exiled opposition group.
Before his arrest in Iran in April 2016, Djalali was a visiting professor in disaster medicine at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, a research university in Brussels.
Sweden later granted citizenship to Djalali, who had been a resident in the country, in February 2018.
“The Iranian authorities are using Ahmadreza Djalali’s life as a pawn in a cruel political game, escalating their threats to execute him in retaliation for their demands going unmet,” said Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty’s deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa.
“The authorities are attempting to pervert the course of justice in Sweden and Belgium, and should be investigated for the crime of hostage taking,” she said.
The London-based NGO says that since at least late 2020, the Iranian authorities had been “conditioning” Djalali’s fate on seeking a “deal” with Belgium to swap him for Assadi, and with Sweden for Noury.
The UN Human Rights Office had said Tuesday that it was “deeply alarmed” by reports that Djalali’s execution was imminent, saying his hanging would “constitute an arbitrary deprivation of life.”
Djalali’s supporters, led by his wife Vida Mehrannia, have also sought to keep up the pressure, with his 10-year-old son holding up a sign reading “Free My Dad” at a protest in Stockholm last week where he was joined by his classmates.
Over a dozen Western nationals are being held in Iran in what activists argue is a policy of hostage-taking aimed at extracting concessions from the West. Two more French citizens were detained earlier this month.
Meanwhile, German citizen Jamshid Sharmahd and Swedish citizen Habib Chaab are being tried on security-related charges for which they could be sentenced to death. Activists believe both were abducted by Iran while abroad.
These controversies are coming at an acutely sensitive time for Iran, as world powers are still seeking to revive a 2015 deal over its nuclear program, and as the country is confronting protests over price rises.
Families and supporters of foreign detainees held in Iran, including French tourist Benjamin Briere and French-Iranian academic Fariba Adelkhah, issued a statement Thursday saying Iran has “settled into a systematic policy of hostage-taking.”
Calling on Europe to cut diplomatic ties with Iran, the statement said that “it has become politically and morally unbearable to continue to feed the hostage-taking machine.”
Swedish citizen risking Iran execution is ‘hostage’: Amnesty
https://arab.news/vfg2y
Swedish citizen risking Iran execution is ‘hostage’: Amnesty
- Ahmadreza Djalali was sentenced to death in 2017 on espionage charges that are deemed baseless by Stockholm
- His supporters and Iranian media reports say he could be hanged by May 21
Israel orders new evacuations in Rafah as it prepares to expand operations
- Fighting is escalating across the enclave with heavy clashes between Israeli troops and Palestinian militants
- Israel’s move into Rafah has so far been short of the full-scale invasion that it has planned
RAFAH, Gaza Strip: Israel ordered new evacuations in Gaza’s southern city of Rafah on Saturday as it prepared to expand its operation, saying it was also moving into an area in northern Gaza where Hamas has regrouped.
Fighting is escalating across the enclave with heavy clashes between Israeli troops and Palestinian militants on the outskirts of Rafah, leaving the crucial nearby aid crossings inaccessible and forcing more than 110,000 people to flee north.
Israel’s move into Rafah has so far been short of the full-scale invasion that it has planned.
The United Nations and other agencies have warned for weeks that an Israeli assault on Rafah, which borders Egypt near the main aid entry points, would cripple humanitarian operations and cause a disastrous surge in civilian casualties. More than 1.4 million Palestinians — half of Gaza’s population— have been sheltering in Rafah, most after fleeing Israel’s offensives elsewhere.
Army spokesman, Avichay Adraee, told Palestinians in Jabaliya and Beit Lahiya cities and the surrounding areas to leave their homes and head to shelters in the west of Gaza City, warning that people were in “a dangerous combat zone” and that Israel was going to strike with “great force.”
Heavy fighting is underway in northern Gaza, where Hamas appeared to have once again regrouped in an area where Israel has already launched punishing assaults. Battles erupted this week in the Zeitoun area on the outskirts of Gaza City, in the northern part of the territory. Northern Gaza was the first target of the ground offensive. Israel said late last year that it had mostly dismantled Hamas in the area.
At least 19 people, including eight women and eight children, were killed overnight in Central Gaza in three different strikes that hit the towns of Zawaida, Maghazi and Deir al Balah, according to Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al Balah and an Associated Press journalist who counted the bodies.
Israel’s bombardment and ground offensives in Gaza have killed more than 34,800 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its figures. Much of Gaza has been destroyed and some 80 percent of Gaza’s population has been driven from their homes.
Hamas says Gaza ceasefire efforts are back at square one
- Israel has killed more than 34,700 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry
CAIRO: The Palestinian militant group Hamas said on Friday that efforts to find a Gaza Strip truce deal were back at square one after Israel effectively spurned a plan from international mediators, and the White House said it was trying to keep the sides engaged “if only virtually.”
Hamas said in a statement it would consult with other Palestinian factions on its strategy for talks to halt seven months of war triggered by its deadly Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
Hours earlier, the United Nations warned that aid for Gaza could grind to a halt in days after Israel seized control this week of the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, a vital route for supplies to the devastated Palestinian enclave.
Despite heavy US pressure, Israel has said it will proceed with an assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where more than 1 million displaced people have sought refuge and Israeli forces say Hamas militants are dug in.
Israeli tanks captured the main road dividing the eastern and western sections of Rafah, effectively encircling the eastern part of the city in an assault that has caused Washington to hold up delivery of some military aid.
The White House said that it was watching “with concern,” but the Israeli operations appeared to be localized around the shuttered Rafah crossing and did not reflect a large-scale invasion.
“Once again, we urge the Israelis to open up that crossing to humanitarian assistance immediately,” said White House national security spokesman John Kirby.
Israel’s plan for an all-out assault on Rafah has ignited one of the biggest rifts in generations with its main ally. Washington held up a weapons shipment over fears of massive civilian casualties.
In a report to Congress, President Joe Biden’s administration on Friday said it was reasonable to assess that Israel had used US arms in instances “inconsistent” with international humanitarian law.
However, the administration said it still found credible and reliable Israel’s assurances that it will use US weapons in accordance with international humanitarian law.
Indirect diplomacy has failed to end a war that health authorities in Hamas-run Gaza say has killed almost 35,000 people since the Oct. 7 attack. Some 1,200 people were killed in Israel and 253 taken hostage on Oct. 7, according to Israeli tallies.
Ceasefire talks in Cairo broke up on Thursday with no agreement.
Hamas had said it agreed at the start of the week to a proposal by Qatari and Egyptian mediators that had previously been accepted by Israel. Israel said the Hamas proposal contained elements it cannot accept.
“Israel’s rejection of the mediators’ proposal through the amendments it made returned things to the first square,” Hamas said in Friday’s statement.
“In the light of (Israel Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu’s behavior and rejection of the mediators’ document and the attack on Rafah and the occupation of the crossing, the leadership of the movement will hold consultations with the brotherly leaders of the Palestinian factions to review our negotiation strategy.”
“Hamas did not suspend nor withdraw from the negotiations; the occupation (Israelis) turned against the mediators’ proposal,” a senior Hamas official, Khalil Al-Hayya, said in comments to Al Araby TV published by Hamas.
Kirby said the end of the talks — which CIA Director William Burns was helping mediate — was “deeply regrettable,” but the US believed the differences were surmountable.
“We are working hard to keep both sides engaged in continuing the discussion, if only virtually,” he said.
EXPLOSIONS AND GUNFIRE
Residents described almost constant explosions and gunfire east and northeast of Rafah on Friday, with intense fighting between Israeli forces and militants from Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
Hamas said it ambushed Israeli tanks near a mosque in the east of the city, a sign the Israelis had penetrated several kilometers from the east to the outskirts of the built-up area.
Israel has ordered civilians out of the eastern part of Rafah, forcing tens of thousands of people to seek shelter outside the city, previously the last refuge of more than a million who fled other parts of the enclave during the war.
Israel says it cannot win the war without assaulting Rafah to root out thousands of Hamas fighters it believes are sheltering there. Hamas says it will fight to defend it.
Supplies were already running short and aid operations could halt within days as fuel and food stocks get used up, UN aid agencies said.
“For five days, no fuel and virtually no humanitarian aid entered the Gaza Strip, and we are scraping the bottom of the barrel,” said the UNICEF Senior Emergency Coordinator in the Gaza Strip, Hamish Young.
Aid agencies say the battle has threatened hundreds of thousands of displaced civilians.
“It is not safe, all of Rafah isn’t safe, as tank shells landed everywhere since yesterday,” Abu Hassan, 50, a resident of Tel Al-Sultan west of Rafah told Reuters via a chat app.
“I am trying to leave but I can’t afford 2,000 shekels ($540) to buy a tent for my family,” he said. “There is an increased movement of people out of Rafah even from the western areas, though they were not designated as red zones by the occupation.”
Israeli tanks have sealed off eastern Rafah from the south, capturing and shutting the only crossing between the enclave and Egypt. An advance on Friday to the Salahuddin road that bisects the Gaza Strip completed the encirclement of the “red zone” where they have ordered residents out.
The Israeli military said its forces in eastern Rafah had located several tunnel shafts, and troops backed by an air strike fought at close quarters with groups of Hamas fighters, killing several.
It said Israeli jets had hit several sites from which rockets and mortar bombs had been fired toward Israel.
The UN General Assembly overwhelmingly backed a Palestinian bid to become a full UN member by recognizing it as qualified to join and recommending the UN Security Council “reconsider the matter favorably.”
Iranians vote in parliamentary runoff election
- Politicians calling for change in the country’s government, known broadly as reformists, were generally barred from running in the election
TEHRAN: Iranians voted on Friday in a runoff election for the remaining seats in the country’s parliament after hard-line politicians dominated March balloting.
People in 22 constituencies across the country will elect 45 representatives from a pool of 90 candidates, 15 of whom are considered moderate.
In the capital, Tehran, 16 representatives will be chosen from 32 candidates, all hard-liners.
Final results are expected on Monday, though counts in smaller constituencies are likely before that.
Iran’s parliament plays a secondary role in governing the country.
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has the final say in all important state matters.
State TV showed Khamenei voting on Friday immediately after the polls opened.
He urged people to vote and said the runoff election was as important as the main one.
In the March election, hard-liners won 200 out of 245 seats, with more moderate candidates taking the other 45. A total of 25 million ballots were cast, for a turnout of just under 41 percent.
The previous lowest turnout was 42 percent in the 2020 parliamentary election.
Politicians calling for change in the country’s government, known broadly as reformists, were generally barred from running in the election.
Those calling for radical reforms or for abandoning Iran’s theocratic system were also banned or did not bother to register as candidates.
Suspected pirate attack in Gulf of Aden raises concerns about growing Somali piracy
- Somali piracy in the region at the time cost the world’s economy some $7 billion — with $160 million paid out in ransoms, according to the Oceans Beyond Piracy monitoring group
DUBAI: A European naval force detained six suspected pirates on Friday after they opened fire on an oil tanker traveling through the Gulf of Aden, officials said, likely part of a growing number of piracy attacks emanating from Somalia.
The attack on the Marshall Islands-flagged Chrystal Arctic comes as Houthis have also been attacking ships traveling through the crucial waterway, the Red Sea, and the Bab Al-Mandeb Strait connecting them.
The assaults have slowed commercial traffic through the key maritime route onward to the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea.
The pirates shot at the tanker from a small ship “carrying weapons and ladders,” according to the British military’s UK Maritime Trade Operations Center, which oversees Mideast shipping routes.
The pirates opened fire first at the Chrystal Arctic, whose armed onboard security team returned fire at them, the UKMTO said.
BACKGROUND
Maritime sources say pirates may be encouraged by a relaxation of security or may be taking advantage of the chaos caused by attacks on shipping by the Houthis.
The pirates then abandoned their attempt to take the tanker, which continued on its way with all its crew safe, the UKMTO said.
Hours later, the EU naval force in the region known as Operation Atalanta said a frigate operating in the region detained six suspected pirates.
The frigate seized the pirates, given “the unsafe condition of their skiff” and said that some had “injuries of varied severity.”
It was not immediately clear if those injured suffered gunshot wounds from the exchange of fire with the Chrystal Arctic.
The EU force declined to elaborate “due to the security of the operations.”
Once-rampant piracy off the Somali coast diminished after a peak in 2011. That year, there were 237 reported attacks in waters off Somalia.
Somali piracy in the region at the time cost the world’s economy some $7 billion — with $160 million paid out in ransoms, according to the Oceans Beyond Piracy monitoring group.
Increased naval patrols, a strengthening central government in Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital, and other efforts saw the piracy beaten back.
However, concerns about new attacks have grown in recent months.
According to the International Maritime Bureau, five incidents were reported off Somalia in the first quarter of 2024.
“These incidents were attributed to Somali pirates who demonstrate mounting capabilities, targeting vessels at great distances from the Somali coast,” the bureau warned in April.
It added that there had been “several reported hijacked dhows and fishing vessels, which are ideal mother ships to launch attacks at distances from the Somali coastline.”
In March, the Indian navy detained dozens of pirates who seized a bulk carrier and took its 17 crew hostage.
In April, pirates release 23 crew members of the Bangladesh-flagged cargo carrier MV Abdullah after seizing the vessel.
The terms of the release are not immediately known.
These attacks come as the Houthi campaign has targeted shipping since November as part of their pressure campaign to stop the Israel-Hamas war raging in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli troops drive further into Rafah as tanks split city in two
- Four Israeli soldiers killed as Hamas and Islamic Jihad put up a fierce resistance
- Israel’s move into Rafah has been short of the full-scale invasion that it threatened
JEDDAH: Israeli troops pushed further into Rafah in southern Gaza on Friday as its tanks split the city in two and encircled the eastern half.
The Israeli forces faced fierce resistance from Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters, and battles also resumed in northern Gaza, where Hamas has regrouped after being forced out earlier in the war. Four Israeli soldiers were killed in fighting there.
Israel’s move into Rafah has been short of the full-scale invasion that it threatened. The US and other Israeli allies are deeply opposed to a major offensive, and Washington has threatened to hold back arms to shipments to Israel.
But the heavy fighting has shaken the city and spread fear that a bigger assault is coming.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees said more than 110,000 people had fled Rafah, and families who had already moved numerous times during the war were doing so again.
“The full invasion hasn’t started and things have already gotten below zero,” said Raed Al-Fayomi, a refugee in Rafah. “There’s no food or water.”
Those fleeing erected new tent camps in Khan Younis, which was half destroyed in an earlier Israeli offensive, and the town of Deir Al-Balah.
The charity Project Hope said there had been a surge in people from Rafah seeking care for blast injuries, infections and pregnancies in its clinic in Deir Al-Balah.
“People are evacuating to nothing. There are no homes or proper shelters for people to go to,” said the group’s Gaza team leader in Rafah, Moses Kondowe.
UN aid official Georgios Petropoulos said humanitarian workers had no supplies to set up in new locations.
“We simply have no tents, we have no blankets, no bedding, none of the items that you would expect a population on the move to be able to get from the humanitarian system,” he said.
The fighting in Rafah has left crucial nearby aid crossings inaccessible, and food and other supplies were running critically low, aid agencies said.
The World Food Program will run out of food for distribution in southern Gaza by Saturday, Petropoulos said.
Aid groups have said fuel will also be depleted soon, forcing hospitals to shut down critical operations and bringing to a halt trucks delivering aid across south and central Gaza.
