A lawyer of Iranian national Hamid Nouri, who has been jailed in Sweden on baseless allegations, lashed out at Stockholm’s mistreatment of Nouri as well as his trial process, and labeled the Iranian national’s solitary confinement in the European country as a “world record”.
Ex-official’s lawyer Hanna Larsson stated at the tenth session of an appeals court hearing that her client has now spent 3.5 years in solitary confinement in Swedish detention centers, describing the long period as a “record” in the world and the way he is treated by jailers as “very heinous”.
Nouri’s family members have been prevented from visiting him, Larsson stated, blaming the Swedish prison authorities for refusing to arrange meetings despite having “enough time to do so”.
“He is entitled to have in-person and virtual meetings, but no meeting is held,” she continued, adding that the prison authorities have also deprived Nouri of having access to his laptop and iPad over the past weeks.
Larsson also rebuked the Swedish authorities for preventing Nouri’s access to crucial documents required for defending him at the court, dismissing as “not true” the prosecutor’s claim that the documents had been handed over to her client.
“These documents were of great value to our client and now we cannot defend him as we should and be ready for defense,” Nouri’s lawyer stressed.
Larsson also brought up the issue of Nouri’s failing eyesight, stating her client had for several times called for arranging an appointment with an ophthalmologist but the prison authorities turned down the plea.
Thomas Bodström, another Nouri’s lawyer, confirmed Larsson’s remarks and voiced his criticism of his client’s trial process.
Nouri was detained upon arrival at Stockholm Airport in November 2019. He has been put in solitary confinement since his arrest. The charges against Nouri stem from allegations leveled against him by members of the Mojahedin-e-Khalq (MKO) terror group. The former official has vehemently rejected the allegations.
In July 2022, the former judiciary employee was sentenced to life imprisonment by a court in Sweden. Iran has dismissed the Swedish court’s sentence as illegal and called for Nouri’s release.
Tehran has strongly condemned the Swedish court ruling for the life imprisonment of Nouri, saying the court is basically unqualified to address the case.
The court statement is fundamentally “rejected, distorted and unacceptable”, Kana’ani stated, adding that “the court lacks legal legitimacy to deal with the case”.
The spokesperson noted that “Iran holds Sweden accountable for the damages caused to bilateral relations between the two countries by this statement and ruling”.
He argued that instead of responding to the Iranian public opinion about allowing free activity of a terrorist group, the Swedish judicial system is supporting and promoting terrorism in practice.
Kana’ani regretted that Sweden has put its judicial system at the service of the criminal goals of the MKO terrorist group.
