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Iranian Official to Appeal Swedish Life Sentence in Executions Case

A sketch of Hamid Noury, accused of involvement in the 1988 executions, during his trial in Stockholm on November 23, 2021. (Reuters)
A sketch of Hamid Noury, accused of involvement in the 1988 executions, during his trial in Stockholm on November 23, 2021. (Reuters)
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Iranian Official to Appeal Swedish Life Sentence in Executions Case

A sketch of Hamid Noury, accused of involvement in the 1988 executions, during his trial in Stockholm on November 23, 2021. (Reuters)
A sketch of Hamid Noury, accused of involvement in the 1988 executions, during his trial in Stockholm on November 23, 2021. (Reuters)

A former Iranian official sentenced in Sweden to life in prison for his part in a mass execution of political prisoners in Iran will appeal against his conviction to the Supreme Court, his lawyer said on Thursday.

Earlier this week, a Swedish appeals court upheld the guilty verdict and life sentence for murder and serious crimes against international law for former prison official Hamid Noury.

"We will appeal to the Supreme Court," Noury's lawyer Thomas Bodstrom told Reuters.

"If we are going after people who worked as administrators or prison guards several decades ago, then there are any number of Iranians who risk life imprisonment if they set foot in Sweden."

Noury is the only person so far to face trial over the killings at the Gohardasht prison in Karaj, Iran, in 1988 that targeted members of the Iranian People's Mujahideen, which was fighting in parts of Iran, as well as other political dissidents.

Under Swedish law, courts can try Swedish citizens and other nationals for crimes against international law committed abroad.

Bodstrom said his client, who was arrested in Sweden in 2019, was disappointed with the verdict and highly critical of the Swedish court system.

The appeals court's decision this week was greeted with cheers by several hundred protesters who had gathered outside the court but has caused a serious rift between Iran and Sweden.

On Wednesday an Iranian court resumed the trial of a Swedish European Union employee arrested in 2022 while on holiday in the country.

Johan Floderus is charged with spying for Israel and "corruption on Earth", a crime that carries the death penalty.

Sweden has requested his immediate release, calling the detention arbitrary.

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Congress is Notified by the Biden Administration of Planned $8 Billion Weapons Sale to Israel

The State Department has informed Congress of a planned $8 billion weapons sale to Israel - File Photo/AFP
The State Department has informed Congress of a planned $8 billion weapons sale to Israel - File Photo/AFP
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Congress is Notified by the Biden Administration of Planned $8 Billion Weapons Sale to Israel

The State Department has informed Congress of a planned $8 billion weapons sale to Israel - File Photo/AFP
The State Department has informed Congress of a planned $8 billion weapons sale to Israel - File Photo/AFP

The State Department has informed Congress of a planned $8 billion weapons sale to Israel, US officials say, as the American ally presses forward with its war against Hamas in Gaza.

Some of the arms in the package could be sent through current US stocks but the majority would take a year or several years to deliver, according to two US officials Saturday who spoke on condition of anonymity because the notification to Congress hasn't been formally sent.

The sale includes medium-range air-to-air missiles to help Israel defend against airborne threats, 155 mm projectile artillery shells for long-range targeting, Hellfire AGM-114 missiles, 500-pound bombs and more.

The weapons package would add to a record of at least $17.9 billion in military aid that the US has provided Israel since the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, launched the war, The AP reported.

The Biden administration has faced criticism over mounting deaths of Palestinian civilians. There have been demonstrations on college campuses and unsuccessful efforts in Congress by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and some Democrats to block sales of offensive weapons to Israel.

The United States paused a shipment of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel in May over concerns about civilian casualties if the bombs were to be used during an assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah. The Biden administration has demanded that Israel increase humanitarian aid into the enclave. But in November, citing some limited progress, it declined to limit arms transfers as it threatened to do if the situation did not improve.

In recent days, Israel has been conducting airstrikes in Gaza that have killed dozens of people, adding to the tens of thousands of deaths since the war began more than a year ago.

The Israeli army said Friday that it had struck dozens of Hamas gathering points and command centers throughout Gaza. Israel’s military says it only targets militants and blames Hamas for civilian deaths because its fighters operate in dense residential areas.

The war has caused widespread destruction and displaced about 90% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million, many of them multiple times. Winter has now arrived, and hundreds of thousands are sheltering in tents near the sea.

The informal notice to Congress isn’t the final notification before a sale. Now the leaders of the House Foreign Affairs Committee or the Senate Foreign Relations Committee can review the package.

News of the weapons sale was first reported by Axios.