February 07 2020
A Swedish court has sentenced a 46-year-old Iraqi man to 2 1/2 years in prison for being an Iranian spy by gathering information about Iranian refugees in Sweden, Denmark, Belgium and the Netherlands.
The man, identified as Raghdan al-Hraishawi in court documents, was convicted by the Stockholm District Court of carrying out illegal intelligence activities by collecting information about minority Iranian Arabs, known as Ahvazis.
Sweden’s intelligence agency said al-Hraishawi, who holds both Iraqi and Swedish citizenship, was arrested February 27. He denied the charges and claimed he was working as a reporter.
In its December 20 decision, the court said al-Hraishawi, from a region in southeastern Iraq close to the border with Iran, acted under the cover of representing an Arabic online newspaper and used a tribal name when contacting Ahvazis. His activities “may have caused a large number of opposition Ahvazis or their relatives to be persecuted, seriously injured or killed,” hence the crime was being assessed “as serious,” it said.
According to the court, the investigation showed the man’s spying activities lasted four years, ending only in February with his arrest.
During the trial, prosecutors said the man had photographed and filmed Ahvazi gatherings and demonstrations in Belgium, the Netherlands and Sweden.
