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Iran sentences 'Mossad agent' to death over scientist killings

By Bozorgmehr Sharafedin

 

FILE PHOTO: A worshipper holds an anti-U.S. President Barack Obama poster and portraits of killed Iranian nuclear scientists during the funeral for nuclear scientist Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan, who was killed in a bomb blast in Tehran on January 11, after Friday prayers January 13, 2012. REUTERS/Morteza Nikoubazl/File Photo

 

LONDON (Reuters) - Iran has sentenced to death a person found guilty of providing information to Israel to help it assassinate several senior nuclear scientists, Tehran's prosecutor said on Tuesday.

 

Dolatabadi did not identify the defendant, but Amnesty International said on Monday that Ahmadreza Djalali, an Iranian doctor who studied and taught in Sweden, had been sentenced to death in Iran on espionage charges.

 

At least four scientists were killed between 2010 and 2012 in what Tehran said was a programme of assassinations aimed at sabotaging its nuclear energy programme. Iran hanged one man in 2012 over the killings, saying he had links to Israel.

 

On the latest conviction, Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi told the judiciary's news agency: "The person had several meetings with (Israeli intelligence agency) Mossad and provided them with sensitive information about Iran's military and nuclear sites in return for money and residency in Sweden."

 

The headline of the report described the convicted person as a "Mossad agent".

 

Amnesty said the court verdict against Djalali stated that he had worked with the Israeli government which then helped him obtain a Swedish residency permit.

 

Neither Iran nor Amnesty said when the verdict was issued.

 

Sweden condemned the sentence and said it had raised the matter withIranian representatives in Stockholm and Tehran.

 

"We condemn the use of the death penalty in all its forms. The death penalty is an inhuman, cruel and irreversible punishment that has no place in modern law," Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom said in an emailed comment.

 

Djalali, a doctor and lecturer at Stockholm medical university the Karolinska Institute, was arrested in April 2016 and held without access to a lawyer for seven months, three of which were in solitary confinement, according to London-based Amnesty.

 

"Djalali was sentenced to death after a grossly unfair trial that once again exposes not only the Iranian authorities' steadfast commitment to (the) use of the death penalty but their utter contempt for the rule of law," said Philip Luther, Amnesty’s Middle East advocacy director.

 

The United States has denied Iran's accusation that it was involved in the scientists' deaths, while Israel has a policy of not commenting on such allegations.

 

Dolatabadi said the convicted person gave Mossad information about 30 nuclear and military scientists including Massoud Ali Mohammadi, who was killed by a remote-controlled bomb attached to a motorcycle outside his home in Tehran.

 

The judiciary said the defendant was also linked to the assassination of nuclear engineer Majid Shahriari, killed in a bomb attack in November 2010.

 

Djalali's wife Vida Mehrannia, who lives in Sweden with their two children, has told Amnesty that his physical and mental health has sharply deteriorated since he was detained.

 

"We are calling for his release because he has not committed any crime," Amnesty quoted her as saying.

 

The vice-chancellor of the Karolinska Institute, where Djalali received his PhD in disaster medicine in 2012, said he was deeply concerned.

 

"For many years, he has worked with researchers from all over the world to improve the capacity of hospitals in countries suffering from extreme poverty or affected by disasters and armed conflicts," Ole Petter Ottersen said in a statement published on the university’s website.

 

"We ask that Dr Djalali be subjected to due process and fair trial."

 

(Reporting by Bozorgmehr Sharafedin and Anna Ringstrom and Helena Soderpalm; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-10-25

[geriatrickid]

The Iranian story is suspect because;

1. Sweden has an overtly hostile foreign policy to Israel and does not co-operate on security issues. It is unlikely, Sweden would have changed its long standing position.

2. Israel has no say as to who can obtain a residency permit in Sweden. No foreign country has any say in a matter such as this.

 

Whenever Iran  undertakes one of mad scapegoating state sanctioned murders, it  uses one of the foreign enemy  justifications, blaming Israel or the USA or the UK. This is the Iranian M.O.  What better way to deflect the protests of Sweden and Amnesty International than to claim that the Swedish trained medical lecturer was an enemy agent. His family  lived in Sweden and he had no connection to Iran's military nuclear weapons program.

 

 

[retarius]

7 hours ago, geriatrickid said:

The Iranian story is suspect because;

1. Sweden has an overtly hostile foreign policy to Israel and does not co-operate on security issues. It is unlikely, Sweden would have changed its long standing position.

2. Israel has no say as to who can obtain a residency permit in Sweden. No foreign country has any say in a matter such as this.

 

Whenever Iran  undertakes one of mad scapegoating state sanctioned murders, it  uses one of the foreign enemy  justifications, blaming Israel or the USA or the UK. This is the Iranian M.O.  What better way to deflect the protests of Sweden and Amnesty International than to claim that the Swedish trained medical lecturer was an enemy agent. His family  lived in Sweden and he had no connection to Iran's military nuclear weapons program.

 

 

Whenever Iran detains anyone, it is always claimed that the detainee is innocent and has done no crime. Think it through and see what it means. It means that no one is spying on Iran despite all the hate spewed in the western press. The Americans spy on everyone, allies and enemies alike so one has to assume that the CIA and NSA have humint assets in Iran; Israel hates Iran and Mossad is a well known and effective organisation....it seems a bit of a stretch to say that Mossad are not involved in anything in Iran; same with the UK....

Intelligence organizations like the CIA and MI6 target dual nationals or aspiring dual nationals to spy on their behalf as they have access where no American or Brit could go.

There is not enough detail provided here for a reasonable person to be able to make a determination on this individual's guilt or innocence.....but based on my life experience it is probably incorrect to claim that this is the usual Iranian MO and therefore to believe Western claims that everyone detained is innocent. As awful as Iranians are depicted in our press, they are not so stupid as to be wrong every single time they arrest someone.

[BuaBS]

14 hours ago, webfact said:

Iran sentences 'Mossad agent' to death

Good !

[Ulic]

Not sure if this guy was involved or not but both the Americans and Israelis know for sure . After all the nuclear scientists were assassinated. I understood that it was the nuclear inspectors who were in the country inspecting research sites and interviewing Iranian staff that were subsequently interviewed/interrogated by the CIA and Mossad. They had no idea that the information they gave during these inspection debriefs would be used to identify Iranian scientists for assassination.  I doubt any of these inspectors will be heading back to Iran  ever again.

 

[ilostmypassword]

8 hours ago, Ulic said:

Not sure if this guy was involved or not but both the Americans and Israelis know for sure . After all the nuclear scientists were assassinated. I understood that it was the nuclear inspectors who were in the country inspecting research sites and interviewing Iranian staff that were subsequently interviewed/interrogated by the CIA and Mossad. They had no idea that the information they gave during these inspection debriefs would be used to identify Iranian scientists for assassination.  I doubt any of these inspectors will be heading back to Iran  ever again.

 

Source?

[stevenl]

9 hours ago, Ulic said:

Not sure if this guy was involved or not but both the Americans and Israelis know for sure . After all the nuclear scientists were assassinated. I understood that it was the nuclear inspectors who were in the country inspecting research sites and interviewing Iranian staff that were subsequently interviewed/interrogated by the CIA and Mossad. They had no idea that the information they gave during these inspection debriefs would be used to identify Iranian scientists for assassination.  I doubt any of these inspectors will be heading back to Iran  ever again.

 

Could be true but it would surprise me.

Where did you get this information from please?

[ilostmypassword]

7 minutes ago, stevenl said:

Could be true but it would surprise me.

Where did you get this information from please?

Probably from the Dept. of ISTR or its sister agency, the Dept. of PIOOMA.