Iran Judiciary: Ahmadreza Jalali will not be exchanged for Hamid Nouri
Iran’s Judiciary Spokesman has dismissed the possibility of any swap deal between Iran and Sweden to release death row inmate Ahmadreza Jalali in exchange for Hamid Nouri, who is facing life imprisonment in the European country.
“These two issues have nothing to do with each other and as I said Hamid Nouri is innocent secondly Mr. Jalali was arrested two years ago and his sentence has been finalized, so there is no discussion about the exchange of these two people and Mr. Jalali’s sentence will be carried out,” Zabihollah Khodayian said on Tuesday.
He said Jalali is an Iranian citizen who was arrested in 2016 on charges of espionage and links to the Israeli spy agency Mossad and leaking intelligence about secret projects and even information related to nuclear scientists.
After his arrest, the Swedish government granted him citizenship. He has been sentenced to death on several charges and the verdict is final.
The sentence will be carried out, the Judiciary spokesman explained.
Hamid Nouri was arrested in 2019 upon arrival at Stockholm airport and was later put on trial over allegations of his involvement in the trial of the members of the terrorist group Mojahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) in the 1980s.
The MKO is responsible for the killing of about 12-thousand Iranian people and officials since the Islamic Revolution of 1979. The group has carried out bombings and assassinations across Iran.
During the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, the MKO joined forces with former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein to carry out cross border attacks.