November 01, 2019
The Swedish Security Service (SAPO) has arrested a 46-year-old Iranian believed to be part of a Europe-wide Iranian intelligence operation to track down and kill exiles who are working for the independence of Arab areas of Iran.
The Stockholm daily newspaper Aftonbladet reported October 12 that the man was arrested March 1 and is being held pending trial. He is believed to have been assigned to follow exiles, map their movements and provide information on their homes and workplaces so they could be killed by other agents from Iran.
Germany, Belgium, France, Norway the Netherlands and Denmark last year arrested several people they said were involved in Iranian plots, which they said stretched back over five years. The arrest in Sweden suggests the probe is expanding.
Various media reports have said Iran was targeting exiled Iranians from the Arab minority group, especially those with links to the opposition group ASMLA, the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahwaz.
According to the Swedish Tax Agency, the arrested man came to Sweden about 10 years ago and acquired Swedish citizenship a few years ago. In recent years, Aftonbladet said, he has been working as a journalist for an Arabic-language Internet site based in Sweden.
The known case dates back to November 2017 when the founder of ASMLA, Ahmad Mola Nissi, was shot dead outside his home in The Hague in the Netherlands. After that murder, the shooter threw away his gun and fled in a black BMW. No one was arrested. But the investigation linked that killing to the murder of Iranian dissident Ali Motamed in the Netherlands in December 2015.
On September 28, 2018, the Danish security police raided a property on the island of Zealand. During the operation, the Oresund Bridge to the mainland was shut down, disrupting the commutes of many Danes and drawing much attention. Later, Danish authorities said the action was taken to foil an Iranian intelligence plan to kill another ASMLA leader in Denmark.
In the same case, a man was arrested in Gothenburg, Norway, October 21, 2018, on suspicion of espionage and preparation for murder. He was later extradited to Denmark.
The Dutch police have placed several Ahwazi activists in the Netherlands under police protection. One such man told reporters he went underground with his family after receiving information that he and a Swedish Ahwazi activist were on a death list.
Aftonbladet said another of the threatened persons is an Iranian opposition television journalist in the Netherlands who was befriended by the 46-year-old now jailed in Sweden.
Among the 46-year-old’s belongings, detailed photographs of the journalist’s home were found, Aftonbladet said.
Swedish Prosecutor Hans-Jorgen Hanstrom declined to say anything about the investigation or the links with the Netherlands before the prosecution is brought in court.
The man’s lawyer, Hanna Lindblom, said the investigation file covers 1,700 pages, plus telephone eavesdropping transcripts for several months as well as text and Whatsapp conversations. She said the man “denies any crime.”
In a separate case last year, France and Belgian arrested Iranian exiles for plotting to bomb the annual Mojahedin-e Khalq rally near Paris. Germany then arrested an Iranian diplomat and accused him of recruiting the others to carry out the bombing. Germany said it could arrest the diplomat because he was assigned to Austria and enjoyed diplomatic immunity in Austria, but not in Germany.
