Iran Postpones Execution of Iranian-Swedish Academic

The death sentence of Iranian-Swedish academic Ahmadreza Djalali has strained tension between Tehran and Stockholm. AFP
The death sentence of Iranian-Swedish academic Ahmadreza Djalali has strained tension between Tehran and Stockholm. AFP
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Iran Postpones Execution of Iranian-Swedish Academic

The death sentence of Iranian-Swedish academic Ahmadreza Djalali has strained tension between Tehran and Stockholm. AFP
The death sentence of Iranian-Swedish academic Ahmadreza Djalali has strained tension between Tehran and Stockholm. AFP

The planned execution of Iranian-Swedish academic Ahmadreza Djalali, who was sentenced to death in Iran three years ago for spying, has been postponed, his wife said Thursday.

Vida Mehran Nia told AFP she had been informed by her husband's lawyer that Iranian authorities had decided to delay the execution for "some days".

According to information gathered by rights group Amnesty International, Djalali was scheduled to be moved on Tuesday afternoon to a prison in the Iranian city of Karaj where the execution was to be carried out, but his wife said he had not yet been transferred.

Mehran Nia told AFP she believed the postponement was related to "political issues" in Iran, and even if it was a "good sign" she was unsure what it meant for her husband's chances.

"I don't know honestly, but at least we have some hope," said Mehran Nia, who lives in Sweden.

Djalali, formerly based in Stockholm where he worked at the Karolinska Institute, a medical university, was arrested during a visit to Iran in April 2016.

He was subsequently found guilty of passing information about two Iranian nuclear scientists to Israel's Mossad intelligence agency that led to their assassinations.

While imprisoned he was granted Swedish citizenship in February 2018, only months after his death sentence was confirmed by Iran's Supreme Court.

Djalali has claimed he is being punished for refusing to spy for Iran while working in Europe and his death sentence has been widely condemned by rights groups and by UN rights experts.

The case strained relations between Sweden and Iran after Swedish foreign minister Ann Linde urged Tehran to call off the execution on Twitter last week, writing that she had spoken to her Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif about the case.

"Sweden denounces the death penalty and is working so that the sentence against Djalali is not carried out," Linde wrote.

Linde's comments were denounced by Iran the following day, with foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh saying that "all interference in the issuance or carrying out of judicial decisions is rejected as unacceptable."



Russia Launches Scores of Drones on Ukraine, Four People Injured, Kyiv Says

A handout photo made available by the State Emergency Service of Ukraine shows the site of a drone attack on a storage building in Kyiv, Ukraine, 12 April 2025, amid the ongoing Russian invasion. EPA/STATE EMERGENCY SERVICE OF UKRAINE  HANDOUT
A handout photo made available by the State Emergency Service of Ukraine shows the site of a drone attack on a storage building in Kyiv, Ukraine, 12 April 2025, amid the ongoing Russian invasion. EPA/STATE EMERGENCY SERVICE OF UKRAINE HANDOUT
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Russia Launches Scores of Drones on Ukraine, Four People Injured, Kyiv Says

A handout photo made available by the State Emergency Service of Ukraine shows the site of a drone attack on a storage building in Kyiv, Ukraine, 12 April 2025, amid the ongoing Russian invasion. EPA/STATE EMERGENCY SERVICE OF UKRAINE  HANDOUT
A handout photo made available by the State Emergency Service of Ukraine shows the site of a drone attack on a storage building in Kyiv, Ukraine, 12 April 2025, amid the ongoing Russian invasion. EPA/STATE EMERGENCY SERVICE OF UKRAINE HANDOUT

Russia launched a barrage of drones in an overnight attack on Ukraine, injuring four people and damaging residential and commercial buildings in Kyiv and other parts of the country, Ukrainian officials said on Saturday. Ukraine's air defenses shot down 56 of 88 Russian drones, its air force said. It added that 24 drones were "lost" as the military used electronic warfare to redirect them.
Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitchko said that three people were injured in the capital as a result of the drone attacks, Reuters said.
Drone debris also destroyed a private house and damaged several commercial buildings, causing large fires in different parts of Kyiv, city officials said.
One more person was wounded in the city of Kharkiv in the northeast, Kharkiv's mayor, Ihor Terekhov, said.
Regional officials also said that residential and commercial buildings were damaged in the central Dnipropetrovsk region, and the military reported damage in the Odesa region in the south.