The Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Al Ahwaz, an Arab nationalist opposition group in Iran, accused Turkey on Saturday of arresting one of its leaders, Habib Asyud, and handing him over to Iranian security services.
Initially lured by parties in Qatar, Asyud was detained in Turkey on October 9 only hours after arriving in Istanbul, the Movement’s president, Saeed Hmidan, told Asharq Al-Awsat.
Hmidan revealed that Turkish authorities informed a defense attorney assigned to represent Asyud, who is also a Swedish national, that he had arrived in Istanbul three hours before he went missing.
Authorities in Istanbul ignored questions from the family and all messages and contacts from Swedish authorities regarding Asyud’s fate over the past 25 days.
Rahyab News, a newspaper tied to Iranian intelligence, later confirmed reports on Turkish authorities handing over the Ahwazi leader, saying that he was moved to Iran via West Azerbaijan crossing as part of an intelligence operation.
On Saturday, Iranian broadcast channels reported that Asyud was present in Tehran after being arrested in Turkey.
The Movement held the Iranian regime fully responsible for the life of the dissident, calling on the Swedish and Turkish authorities to constructively cooperate in order to uncover the circumstances of this kidnapping.
The Arab opposition movement confirmed that it would follow up the kidnapping of one of its leaders through legal means to know his fate and ensure that he was not harmed.
Hours before Asyud’s arrest, dozens of the Movement’s activists were targeted by a cyberattack launched via a zip file sent on the WhatsApp Messenger mobile application.
Ahwazi activists have recently complained of hacking attempts on social networks, and reported receiving death threats from unknown numbers.
The New York Times reported in September that Iranian hackers, most likely employees or affiliates of the government, have been running a vast cyberespionage operation equipped with surveillance tools that can outsmart encrypted messaging systems.
The operation not only targets domestic dissidents, religious and ethnic minorities and antigovernment activists abroad, but can also be used to spy on the general public inside Iran, said the reports by Check Point Software Technologies, a cybersecurity technology firm, and the Miaan Group, a human rights organization that focuses on digital security in the Middle East.
The reports, which were reviewed by The New York Times, say that the hackers have successfully infiltrated what were thought to be secure mobile phones and computers belonging to the targets, overcoming obstacles created by encrypted applications such as Telegram and, according to Miaan, even gaining access to information on WhatsApp.
Both are popular messaging tools in Iran. The hackers also have created malware disguised as Android applications, the reports said.
