Iran to Kick off Trial of Iranian-Swedish Opposition Figure

Ahvaz activist Habib Chaab during an interview with Iranian television last year. (ISNA)
Ahvaz activist Habib Chaab during an interview with Iranian television last year. (ISNA)
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Iran to Kick off Trial of Iranian-Swedish Opposition Figure

Ahvaz activist Habib Chaab during an interview with Iranian television last year. (ISNA)
Ahvaz activist Habib Chaab during an interview with Iranian television last year. (ISNA)

The trial of an Iranian-Swedish dissident held in Iran on security charges for over a year will kick off on Tuesday, the judiciary said.

Habib Chaab, also known as Habib Asyud, went missing during a visit to Turkey in October 2020 and a month later appeared in a video, broadcast by Iranian state television, making confessions.

Human rights groups condemn such confessions, describing them as "coercive," accusing the Iranian authorities of forcing them under torture.

Chaab's trial comes as tensions grew between Iran and Sweden following the prosecution of former Iranian official Hamid Nouri, who is on trial in Stockholm over alleged involvement in 1988 executions.

"The first hearing in the case of Habib Farjollah Chaab, also known as Habib Asyud, the leader of the terrorist group ASMLA, opens tomorrow (Tuesday) before Branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court," the judiciary's Mizan Online agency said.

Chaab is accused of "planning and carrying out several terrorist acts, including bomb attacks in Khuzestan province," the agency said.

Last November, the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahvaz (ASMLA) said the authorities wanted to obtain false confessions from Chaab to execute him, noting that it ultimately rejected all the accusations against him.

ASMLA also revealed that Chaab was subjected to "physical and psychological torture."

Chaab's family, who resides in Sweden, denies the accusations.

Stockholm said it had not been granted consular access to Chaab, who lived in exile in Sweden, where he received citizenship.

In December 2020, Turkey arrested 11 people suspected of spying and kidnapping Chaab on behalf of Iran.

It is believed that Chaab was kidnapped in Istanbul before being taken to Van, on the Iranian border, before he was handed over to authorities in Tehran, according to Turkish police.



Ukraine’s Zelenskiy Says Latest Phone Call with Trump His Most Productive Yet

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attends a press conference in the garden at Marselisborg Castle on the occasion of Denmark taking over the EU presidency, in Aarhus, Denmark, July 3, 2025. (Henning Bagger/Ritzau Scanpix/via Reuters)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attends a press conference in the garden at Marselisborg Castle on the occasion of Denmark taking over the EU presidency, in Aarhus, Denmark, July 3, 2025. (Henning Bagger/Ritzau Scanpix/via Reuters)
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Ukraine’s Zelenskiy Says Latest Phone Call with Trump His Most Productive Yet

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attends a press conference in the garden at Marselisborg Castle on the occasion of Denmark taking over the EU presidency, in Aarhus, Denmark, July 3, 2025. (Henning Bagger/Ritzau Scanpix/via Reuters)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attends a press conference in the garden at Marselisborg Castle on the occasion of Denmark taking over the EU presidency, in Aarhus, Denmark, July 3, 2025. (Henning Bagger/Ritzau Scanpix/via Reuters)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday that his latest conversation with US President Donald Trump this week was the best and "most productive" he has had to date.

"Regarding the conversation with the president of the United States, which took place a day earlier, it was probably the best conversation we have had during this whole time, the most productive," Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address.

"We discussed air defense issues and I'm grateful for the willingness to help. The Patriot system is precisely the key to protection against ballistic threats."

Zelenskiy said the two leaders had discussed "several other important matters" that officials from the two sides would be considering in forthcoming meetings.

Trump told reporters on Friday that he had a good call with Zelenskiy and restated his disappointment at a conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin over what he said was Moscow's lack of willingness to work toward a ceasefire.

Asked whether the United States would agree to supply more Patriot missiles to Ukraine, as requested by Zelenskiy, Trump said: "They're going to need them for defense... They're going to need something because they're being hit pretty hard."

Russia has intensified air attacks on Kyiv and other cities in recent weeks. Moscow's forces launched the largest drone attack of the 40-month-old war on the Ukrainian capital hours after Trump's conversation with Putin on Thursday.